It's great that this series is being re-issued in the US. Fans of the procedural will like it not only for the puzzles it poses and the characters but also for the setting. I learn something new about Malaysia with each installment. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Last year, when I started re-using NetGalley during quarantine, I discovered Rozlan Mohd Noor’s “21 Immortals” in the “Read Now” section of the “Mystery/Thriller” category. I had never heard of the book or the author, and I had never read any Malaysian police procedurals before, but I definitely lucked out when I decided to check it out. I loved it and its realistic characters, beautiful landscapes, and yummy foods. And little did I know then, but it was the first in a police procedural series, and now Inspector Mislan is back!

“DUKE: Inspector Mislan and the DUKExpressway Murders”, by Rozlan Mohd Noor, is the second book in the Inspector Mislan series. Set in Kuala Lumpur, towards the end of Ramadan, the story follows Inspector Mislan’s investigation of an apparent murder suicide on the DUKE Expressway. When higher ups start pressuring Inspector Mislan to close the case as soon as possible, and not look into any irregularities any further, the Inspector’s integrity and sense of justice is piqued and he sets off to uncover the mystery behind the case regardless of who gets affected by it. As expected from a sequel, supporting characters from the first book are back and encourage and work alongside Inspector Mislan towards solving the case.

Just like in “21 Immortals”, the procedural aspect of the book is more emphasized than the mystery/ thriller aspect. At times the investigation stalls and at times it picks up, but at all times we are privy to the small steps the Inspector and his colleagues take towards the final resolution. Issues with corruption and connections are brought back to life in the investigation, and test the characters’ integrity and determination to see the case truthfully solved.

I definitely enjoyed “DUKE” a lot, and would highly recommend it to fans of police procedurals. After devouring both “21 Immortals” and “DUKE”, I can confidently say I am a big fan of the “Inspector Mislan” series, and look forward to all the upcoming books. Thank you NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing (Arcade Crimewise) for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Duke: Inspector Mislan and the Expressway Murders is the second police procedural featuring Inspector Mislan Latif of Kuala Lumpur’s Special Investigations Unit. A black Mercedes E200 is cruising in the slow lane of the Duta–Ulu Klang Expressway (DUKE) heading towards the city. It's a hot and humid evening and the road is slippery after a light rain shower. All of a sudden the female passenger in the car behind is taken aback when she sees a bright, piercing red flash followed by a muffled bang coming from the Mercedes before it begins to lose speed and career dangerously across the highway. A few seconds later another flash and a loud band rattles from the vehicle and the car comes to a rest, hitting the safety guardrail at the road divider. It is at the eleventh milestone marker. As they manoeuvre past the car, the woman in the passenger seat sees a third bright reddish glow and hears the final muffled bang. She attempts to get her husband to stop and help but he poo-poos her since it is only a minor accident. Meanwhile, a Good Samaritan who does stop to render aid finds two bodies in the car covered in blood and rings 999 in a panic. Patrolman Lance Corporal Ali calls the district police headquarters, gives their location, and requests for the investigation officer on duty to report a possible double homicide. Enter Mislan and his reliable sidekick, Detective Sergeant Johan Kamarudin. The victims are a male, Mahadi Mokshin, sixty, executive chairman of MM Harapan Holdings, address in Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur. And a female, Zaleha Jalani, thirty-four, managing director of Rakan MM Harapan Sdn Bhd, address in Beverly Heights, Ampang. What an odd scene: two corporate figures shot in a car, nothing stolen.

Money, cell phones, valuables all untouched. With the doors having been locked from the inside it seems probable that this is a simple open and shut case of murder-suicide. The holy month of Ramadan and the Hari Raya celebration, as Eid is known here, is one of the biggest events in Malaysia, as the majority of its population is Malay-Muslim. A week or so before Hari Raya most of the city dwellers, especially in Kuala Lumpur, start preparing and leaving for their hometowns, and Mislan posits that this is likely where they were heading. The man has a single GSW to the head and the female one GSW to the head and another to the chest. A Walther PPK .32 and three casings were discovered in the car beside the victims. Inspector Mislan is convinced there is more to this case than meets the eye and begins to consider how a perpetrator could've been or gotten inside the car and committed the murders before making a hasty getaway. But the investigation isn't going to be easy as Mislan is under unusual pressure from the families of the deceased and their associates to close the case quickly making Mislan even more suspicious and hellbent on solving the case properly. This is a riveting and compulsive procedural set against the refreshingly different backdrop of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the author immerses you in the culture and traditions of the area. It's a cleverly plotted and unusual locked room mystery where Mislan must fight to keep the case open and keep his focus on getting to the truth through both help and hindrances: obstructive interviewees, forensics, a plethora of motives and a large suspect pool. This is a gritty exhilarating and vastly underrated series. Highly recommended.

Duke by Rozlan Mohd Noor is a superb and engrossing read which will keep you reading until the end. Well worth the read!

Having read and really enjoyed the first book in Rozland Mohd Noor’s Inspector Mislan series, I was happy to receive an advance review copy of the second book in the series, DUKE: Inspector Mislan and the Expressway Murders. And I was even happier to find that I enjoyed this excellent police procedural just as much as the first one. (Note: just to set things straight for those, like me, who are not super familiar with Kuala Lumpur, author Noor tells us right up front that the DUKE is the Duta–Ulu Klang Expressway – the road of the subtitle - and not a noble Duke. So if you are looking for royalty, you won’t find it here!)

In DUKE, we once again have a nice puzzle to figure out along with Inspector Mislan and his team. Was the death of an older company executive and the much younger head of one of his company’s subsidiaries inside a locked luxury car on the DUKE a murder-suicide, as seems obvious, or is there more going on? Mislan’s instincts tell him things aren’t that simple, and we watch as he figures out how to keep the case from being closed prematurely. And there’s lots of pressure to get the case closed. The executive’s family wants to keep their patriarch’s personal life out of the news, and his business associates, some of whom seem to be a bit on the shady side, want it closed too. Mislan perseveres, the case stays open, and readers will enjoy the investigation that follows – a nice blend of competing departments, lab work, some outside help, some outside obstruction, multiple motives, and a lot of leg work – all with wonderful background snippets of KL and its environs. In the end, of course, Mislan figures out how the crime occurred, what the motive was, and who dunnit – albeit with a bit of a surprise at the end.

Readers also get a nice view of life in a majority Muslim city during Ramadan, with its daytime fasting, later-than-normal night life, eager anticipation of the breaking of the fast each evening, and even more eager anticipation of the Hari Raya (Eid) festival that marks the end of the whole month of fasting. And finally, I found myself to be quite jealous of “Ma’am”, Mislan’s boss, who seems like a perfect supervisor – she has good relationships with her team, some nice insights of her own, and is willing to go to bat for her subordinates, even at the risk of her own position. I wish some of my past bosses could have been more like Ma’am, and I hope she has a long life in the series!

Please keep in mind that I don’t give many five-star reviews – maybe only one in thirty or forty books that I read. So four stars is a very solid recommendation from me to read a book. And I’ve enjoyed the first two books in this series enough that I’m really looking forward to the third one, which is due out in July of this year. Finally, my thanks again to the publisher, Arcade Crimewise, and to NetGalley, for the review copy.

My thanks to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for an advanced copy of this book.

One of the biggest thrills of being a mystery reader is not only finding a clever crime, but discovering a fascinating new series that is set in a location that is new and different. DUKE: Inspector Mislan and the Expressway Murders by Rozlan Mohd Noor is the second book released in here in the series featuring Inspector Mislan Latif a police officer in Kuala Lumpur, divorced with one child and married to his job by both his sense of duty and interest in justice for those who suffer and are forgotten and past over by the rich and powerful. The crime is a take on the locked room murders, featuring a double homicide in a traveling car,a case that certain people would like to see disappear. Mislan is an interesting character, smart with a strong supporting cast, yet with enough moments of doubt and depression that gives him depth. The culture and food of Kuala Lumpur are another character, that helps define the characters and their actions, while the cuisine literally makes you hungry for more. I can't wait to read more in this series.

A good mystery with plenty of action. I liked the book but it is obvious the author does not speak American English. I think the book would do better if it was edited by an American. I did like the inspector and detective. Their boss was pretty neat too. They made a good working team. Greed and emotion plays a big part in the book. Overall a good story.

Think Harry Bosch as a police inspector in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and you'll have some idea of what you are in for. Despite the exotic location, this story, the second in the series, is a police procedural similar in the sense of police procedural sin far more familiar climes. The city is rich, cosmopolitan, and the calendars are marked with Muslim holidays. Inspector Mislan Latif is a maverick, certain of his own detective skills, and always determined to ferret out the truth no matter where it leads. He doesn't play office politics well. Here, at issue is what appears to be a murder-suicide of a prominent businessman and his mistress in a speeding car on a busy highway. The murder weapon is present, victim one's own gun. The doors to the car were locked from the inside. Still, Mislan has his doubts and finds out what it's like to stand against the Deep State. For his own good, Mislan is advised repeatedly to close the case. And, the levers of the State begin to turn against him. All of this, of course, only makes Mislan dig in his heels and play like Sherlock Holmes with a few clues and a lot of speculation.

Having spent a little time in Malaysia, I thought this was interesting. Even today, it's unusual to find a mystery set there. The story was mostly engaging and I enjoyed most of the characters. This has been out since 2011, and has a number of helpful reviews already.

Although it was a slow start, in part because I had to learn to pronounce the different location and character names, once I got the hang of it, this book took off.
An improbable murder suicide piques the curiosity of a detective who pursues the investigation despite all sorts of official and unofficial obstacles.. Between his supervisor, the forensics, the various political bullies and families, keeping everyone straight and following clues, the story takes a while to build momentum but once it does, the action moves quickly.
The one issue I had was the constant, unrelenting, one-after-the-other smoking. Utter yuck- it was nasty to visualize both how much he smoked, as well as how everyone else did as well.
Would. love to read more in this series, maybe with some nicorette.