THE MAN OF THE RAFFLES VERANDAH

Inconspicuous, retired Major Malcolm Gordon, a very nice old sort, is reactivated when a young man sent to Singapore by an English firm (sewing machines--and a new missile device) is assaulted, abducted from a hospital and later hidden in one of the Houses of the Dead. Gordon's particular mission is to thwart one Ling Fat (a member of the Green Dragon Society with Maoist connections) and it takes him to England and back again. Rather old-fashioned in a day and age to which it belongs only chronologically--but a restful restorative nonetheless.