Clashing cultures come together in Pat Harrington's Death Stalks the Khmer (ISBN: 1-58851-350-5; AmErica House; 2001) to create a compelling read both intriguing and entertaining.

Assigned to the role of liaison between the Seabell Police Department and the Southeast Asian Assistance Agency character Bridget O'Hern serves as a "cultural tour guide" to police detective Jack Patrewski as the two work with groups of people distrustful of government agencies. Viewed as a helpful outsider by some and an unwelcome intruder by others, O'Hern is forced to choose between personal safety and her desire to see justice done as she and detective Patrewski discover a motive for murder steeped in the history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge.

Harrington's novel is more than a simple work of fiction-- it's a sweeping landscape portrait of the process of assimilation framed by murder. Middle-aged Americans will remember heart wrenching scenes from The Killing Fields and the story of Loung Ung, First They Killed My Father, while reading this unusually sensitive and insightful work of fiction.
Death Stalks the Khmer is a reminder that in the case of the Khmer Rouge Lady Justice has remained blind far too long.