American author Hugh Scott was recently in Ho Chi Minh City to promote his debut novel, Saigon Gold.

The book tells the story of Robert Anderson who returns to Vietnam to seek atonement for the civilian casualties during the American War. But soon after checking into the Caravelle Hotel in HCM City , he is thrust into a dangerous scheme to help a war-time friend recover a fortune in gold that sank in the Sai Gon River in 1975.

Anderson meets a Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) romantic interest, Jenny Ngo, and the stakes quickly escalate. Unaware they are being watched, Anderson and Ngo frantically race the length of scenic Vietnam in a desperate effort to elude their deadly pursuers.

“At the beginning, the book’s lead character is opposed by a veteran from the North who watches his actions,” Scott says. “But by the end they are working together to solve the mystery.”

The proceeds from the first print of 1,000 copies will be given to a Vietnamese charity, possibly one connected with the Rotary International Club, the author says.

He hopes that the book will encourage other American authors to write for readers in Vietnam , not only tourists and returning veterans but also Vietnamese interested in American perspectives on Vietnam .

Scott, 71, was a newspaper reporter, Vietnam War veteran, financial manager, and part-time instructor at the University of San Francisco and the UC Berkeley International Diploma Program.

He is now retired and lives with his wife of 48 years, Christine.

Saigon Gold is being published by the The Gioi Publishing House in Hanoi and is available at TRI Books, Red Door Deco, Xu, Skewers, and La Camargue restaurants in HCM City./.