Having spent several years in Bangkok, I like reading about
the City of Angels and its underworld. More murders than any
other SE Asian city and the cowboy mentality is
pronounced.
Christopher Moore is a Canadian who lives in Bangkok, as well
as other SE Asian countries. NO, not the "You Suck" Moore,
but another one. Ten titles now in the series with Vincent
Calvino as an American PI in the bar scene in Bangkok.
http://www.cgmoore.com/life/index-biography.htm
Moore is not published in North America but he is in Turkey,
Germany and other places. You can find him on the Web and
order in the books.
I wonder where no publisher takes him on here - perhaps
because the bar segments are far too real - you really have
to see a Bangkok bar to believe it. Maybe he is holding out
for too much.
I rather like Moore and wish he was published in North
America.
A British ex-lawyer also writes about Bangkok, this time with
a
*honest* Thai police officer (an oxymoron). John Burdett has
thus far doen two books - Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo, with
a thrid soon to be released. Like Moore, he concentrates on
the bar scene. One reveiw is at:
http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2003/06/12/burdett/index.html
There are a few other English writers who do mysteries based
in Bangkok, just "one-offs" as a rule. Nothing serious.
Bangkok must be the only city were bar girls earn more from
former customers than from present ones in a typical month.
One job I was offered there was to write letters to the
absent lovers, pleading in various ways for money due to a
sick mother or accident prone uncle.
The only part of Burdett's series that is far fetched is that
his character is an honest policeman. Never found one of
those in Bangkok...
Willow
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 10 Apr 2007 EDT