: Mirroring Chase's typical noir style, the narrative focuses on a regular person destroyed by a sudden proximity to immense, illicit wealth.

: Orchestrating an exit visa becomes a nightmare as local syndicates and authorities learn of the missing diamonds and hunt him down.

: Steve Jaffe, an expatriate American businessman working in Saigon, discovers $2 million worth of diamonds hidden behind a wall in his rented villa.

: The vivid depiction of early 1960s Saigon as a tense, humid melting pot filled with vice, opportunism, and shifting post-colonial powers.

: Made into the 1967 West German movie Lotus Flowers for Miss Quon directed by Jürgen Roland. 📖 Core Plot Outline