Saigon, 1943.
Cole Miller works for the OSS, which in this city means the Japanese occupation tolerates him, the Vichy officials running the colony pretend not to see him, and nobody trusts him. Then a café is shot to pieces, his boss dies in the attack, and the fastest way to close the case is to hang it on Cole.
The city Cole thought he knew has shifted beneath him, leaving him surrounded by people whose loyalties depend on who is asking and what they stand to gain.
ARC signups are now open for Songs of Saigon by Ed Teja, a wartime crime and espionage novel set in Japanese-occupied Saigon. Advance copies will be sent on 25 August, ahead of the book’s release on 8 September 2026.
If you enjoy historical thrillers built around political intrigue, compromised alliances and investigations where the authorities may be as dangerous as the murderer, this may be one for your list.
Release date: 08 September 2026
ARC Sendout: 25 August 2026
Distribution: Wide
An OSS officer in 1943 Saigon becomes the most convenient suspect in his own station chief’s murder.
The bullets fired into the cafe changed his life forever.
1943 — Cole Miller, a young Chinese-American OSS agent, returns from a mission. His boss (and friend) is murdered during a terror attack on a cafe. Are they related?
Japanese occupation forces control the country, but the Vichy administration running the colony turns a blind eye to OSS operations. When the Minister of Security learns of Cole’s affair with his wife, he decides to pin the murder on Cole.
With no support from his new boss, who harbors hate for Asia, the OSS, and half-breed men, Cole must navigate the City’s intrigues and find the real killer before it’s too late. But with betrayal lurking in every shadow, can Cole uncover the truth and clear his name?
If you enjoy gripping tales of espionage and betrayal, love and war, you won’t want to miss this thrilling suspense novel.
“A compelling tale of international espionage set in the shadowy underworld of 1943 Saigon during WWII.”
Joanne Kormylo, author of The Resistance Daughter
🕵️ Spy thriller
🔪 Murder investigation
🌏 WWII Southeast Asia setting
⚖️ Morally complex protagonist
🧨 Political intrigue
🩸 Wrong man accused
🕶️ Secret agendas and shifting loyalties
🔥 Dangerous affair
🎭 Corruption and divided allegiances
💣 Terrorist attack fallout
🃏 Underworld connections
🫥 Outsider protagonist
🧭 Identity and loyalty conflict
😰 High-stakes survival
Songs of Saigon is a crime novel set in 1940s Southeast Asia and does not soften the period in which it takes place. Readers should be aware of graphic violence, including an ambush with multiple deaths and a character being shot at close range, as well as a terrorist attack with fatalities, murder, strangulation, gun violence and arms smuggling.
The novel also contains period-accurate racial slurs and ethnic prejudice between Japanese, British, French, Chinese, American and Vietnamese characters. Additional content includes infidelity, heavy smoking and drinking, deliberately cruel characters, and sustained deception.
Ed Teja has been a boat bum, magazine editor, freelance writer, poet and musician, with travel remaining a constant throughout his life and work. Rather than writing traditional travel stories, he is drawn to the places he encounters along the way, particularly those that sit at the margins of the world and the complicated, unusual people who live there.
His fiction spans crime, mystery and thrillers, often placing characters inside communities where the official version of events tells only part of the story.
Songs of Saigon is looking for early readers who are comfortable with its violence, historical prejudice and morally complicated characters, and who enjoy espionage stories in which almost every alliance carries conditions.
If Cole Miller’s investigation sounds like the kind of dangerous ground you enjoy following a character into, you are invited to apply.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.