KUALA LUMPUR 1940 THE MOROCCO OF SOUTH EAST ASIA WHERE SPIES FROM BRITAIN, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN AND CHINA CONGREGATE AND PLAY DEADLY GAMES. A MALAY PRINCE WHO JUST RETURNED FROM BRITAIN TAKES ON A BORING JOB AS A SENIOR GOVERNMENT CIVIL SERVANT BUT FANCIES HIMSELF A SLEUTH AND IT JUST SO HAPPENED THAT A BRITISH DIPLOMAT WAS FOUND MURDERED IN A BORDELLO.

Try to write in lowercase letters and focus on shortening your logline by focussing on the basic theme.

The logline evokes a time and place rife with colorful and corrupt characters, international intrigue.

But it's rather vague when it comes to telling us what the specific plot for this time and place is. What does "get embroiled" mean? Does he get embroiled in the sense of trying to solve the murder? Or does he get embroiled in the sense of being framed for the murder?

And so what? IOW: what are the stakes? Why MUST he solve the murder? What does he stand to gain by solving the the murder? What does he stands to lose by failing to solve the murder? What is the personal threat to him if he doesn't solve it? And who threatens him, who is his antagonist?

A dapper Malay Prince gets embroiled in a murder mystery of a British merchant in 1940 Kuala Lumpur, the Morocco of South East Asia and the playground of Dutch, German, Japanese, American and Australian spies.

Richiev is on the right track that there has to be serious stakes involved. The prince needs to have a reason for solving the murder beyond sheer boredom and amateur curiosity. Except I don't think the demise of a British diplomat would suffice as Malaya was a British colony at the time.

Maybe the death of a Japanese diplomat that threatens to provide a casus belli for Japan to invade. Although Japan already had imperial designs on Southeast Asia which they began to implement after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. So I'm not sure that would work either.

"After a British diplomat's murdered, A Malay prince, who's an amateur sleuth, must solve the crime before the incident incites a world war."