Calvino also understood that most people who go missing want to be found—after they’ve found themselves. Some never do find themselves. Others, who do, are never found. The messiness of finding and being found was as good a place for Yoshi Nagata to begin his Chapter 1, a new equation to explain time and space, thought Calvino.
When Calvino turned back to the mansion, he saw Ratana standing on the balcony outside her room.
She waved at him, smiling. Calvino waved back.
FIFTY-FIVE
From Vincent Calvino
To Dr. Apinya
Subject Plueay Jai เปลือยใจ
Date/Time: 20 May, 22:37
Recovering from a nightmare and returning to the present has been my mission. I’ve let go of Washington Square, the Lonesome Hawk, George, Max, Gator, Bill, Dennis, Kurt and others. The Square is demolished. I’m left standing. I’ve let go of Mya. The Rangoon missing person case is now in a closed file. My life feels different and the same. I’ve discovered the secret door with the voices on the other side clamoring to get out, and I’ve looked inside. It is an empty locker; the images lost in torrents and undertows. I carry the memory around like a turtle carries its shell. I’ve even curled up inside and felt the silence.
I’ve heard many times the story about the bargirl who, when asked whether she believed in ghosts, said she didn’t. But when asked if she was afraid of ghosts, she said yes, she was afraid of them. The story cracked people up. It was one of those funny expat stories that punters love to retell. I don’t laugh anymore. I understand what she meant. You can be afraid without fully believing in whatever makes you fearful. You can accept that when that state of fear accelerates, we lose our connection with reality. Fear is what makes us human. Too much or too little fear, and we are less than human. Machines may do many things, but they don’t experience the power of fear; it’s an alien concept to them.
It wasn’t the guilt but the fear that pushed me over the edge. I can now carry the load of both without breaking down. I don’t know where the fear has gone, but I’m not going to beat the bushes to find its hiding place. If our humanity is lost, so is everything that humanity values—our sense of amazement and wonder, and our possibility for courage, kindness, generosity and empathy. That’s who we are. That’s what machines can never be. But we are also selfish, biased, suspicious, hateful and aggressive, and we retain a possibility for violence, meanness, indifference and treachery. I walk a narrow path between the two sides, looking for those who go missing on the dark side of the track.
All the trains end up at the same terminal. On the journey I look out the window. The window’s purpose isn’t to provide my own reflection. The journey isn’t about me. It’s to understand what is outside and not be afraid of what we find.
I look around a train filled with many others. We share a common fate on the journey. Some will go missing. Some of the missing will be found, others will be lost and beyond rescue. Having found myself, I have a better idea of how to search for others who go missing inside themselves. The fear won’t ever go away, but the ghosts, for now, have disappeared. And I can feel they’ve let go of me. I feel that I’ve already let go of them. I feel that words are recovering their color and meaning. I can start to trust them again.
I am back.
SPIRIT HOUSE
First in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2004) ISBN 974-92389-3-1
The Bangkok police already have a confession by a nineteen-year-old drug addict who has admitted to the murder of a British computer wizard, Ben Hoadly. From the bruises on his face shown at the press conference, it is clear that the young suspect had some help from the police in the making of his confession. The case is wrapped up. Only there are some loose ends that the police and just about everyone else are happy to overlook.
The search for the killer of Ben Hoadley plunges Calvino into the dark side of Bangkok, where professional hit men have orders to stop him. From the world of thinner addicts, dope dealers, fortunetellers, and high-class call girls, Calvino peels away the mystery surrounding the death of the English ex-public schoolboy who had a lot of dubious friends.
“Well-written, tough and bloody.”
—Bernard Knight, Tangled Web (UK)
“A thinking man’s Philip Marlowe, Calvino is a cynic on the surface but a romantic at heart. Calvino ... found himself in Bangkok—the end of the world—for a whole host of bizarre foreigners unwilling, unable, or uninterested in going home.”—The Daily Yomiuri
“Good, that there are still real crime writers. Christopher G. Moore’s [Spirit House] is colorful and crafty.”
—Hessischer Rundfunk (Germany)
ASIA HAND
Second in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2000) ISBN 974-87171-2-7
Winner of 2011 Shamus Award for Best Original Paperback
Bangkok—the Year of the Monkey. Calvino’s Chinese New Year celebration is interrupted by a call to Lumpini Park Lake, where Thai cops have just fished the body of a farang cameraman. CNN is running dramatic footage of several Burmese soldiers on the Thai border executing students.
Calvino follows the trail of the dead man to a feature film crew where he hits the wall of silence. On the other side of that wall, Calvino and Colonel Pratt discover and elite film unit of old Asia Hands with connections to influential people in Southeast Asia. They find themselves matched against a set of farangs conditioned for urban survival and willing to go for a knock-out punch.
“Highly recommended to readers of hard-boiled detective fiction”—Booklist
“Asia Hand is the kind of novel that grabs you and never lets go.”—The Times of India
“Moore’s stylish second Bangkok thriller … explores the dark side of both Bangkok and the human heart. Felicitous prose speeds the action along.”—Publishers Weekly
“Fast moving and hypnotic, this was a great read.”
—Crime Spree Magazine
ZERO HOUR IN PHNOM PENH
Third in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2005) ISBN 974-93035-9-8
Winner of 2004 German Critics Award for Crime Fiction (Deutscher Krimi Preis) for best international crime fiction and 2007 Premier Special Director’s Award Semana Negra (Spain)
In the early 1990s, at the end of the devastating civil war UN peacekeeping forces try to keep the lid on the violence. Gunfire can still be heard nightly in Phnom Penh, where Vietnamese prostitutes try to hook UN peacekeepers from the balcony of the Lido Bar.
Calvino traces leads on a missing farang from Bangkok to war-torn Cambodia, through the Russian market, hospitals, nightclubs, news briefings, and UNTAC headquarters. Calvino’s buddy, Colonel Pratt, knows something that Calvino does not: the missing man is connected with the jewels stolen from the Saudi royal family. Calvino quickly finds out that he is not the only one looking for the missing farang.
“Political, courageous and perhaps Moore’s most important work.”—CrimiCouch.de
“An excellent whodunnit hardboiled, a black novel with a solitary, disillusioned but tempting detective, an interesting historical and social context (Kampuchea of after Pol Pot), and a very thorough psychology of the characters.”
—La culture se partage
“A bursting, high adventure ... Extremely gripping ... A morality portrait with no illusion.”
—Ulrich Noller, Westdeutscher Rundfunk
COMFORT ZONE
Fourth in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2001) ISBN 974-87754-9-6
Twenty years after the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnam is opening to the outside world. There is a smell of fast money in the air and poverty in the streets. Business is booming and in austere Ho Chi Minh City a new generation of foreigners have arrived to make money and not war. Against the backdrop of Vietnam’s economic miracle, Comfort Zone reveals a taut, compelling story of a divided people still not reconciled with their past and unsure of their future.
Calvino is hired by an ex-sp
ecial forces veteran, whose younger brother uncovers corruption and fraud in the emerging business world in which his clients are dealing. But before Calvino even leaves Bangkok, there have already been two murders, one in Saigon and one in Bangkok.
“Calvino digs, discovering layers of intrigue. He’s stalked by hired killers and falls in love with a Hanoi girl. Can he trust her? The reader is hooked.”
—NTUC Lifestyle (Singapore)
“Moore hits home with more of everything in Comfort Zone. There is a balanced mix of story-line, narrative, wisdom, knowledge as well as love, sex, and murder.”
—Thailand Times
“Like a Japanese gardener who captures the land and the sky and recreates it in the backyard, Moore’s genius is in portraying the Southeast Asian heartscape behind the tourist industry hotel gloss.”—The Daily Yomiuri
THE BIG WEIRD
Fifth in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2008) ISBN 978-974-8418-42-1
A beautiful American blond is found dead with a large bullet hole in her head in the house of her ex-boyfriend. A famous Hollywood screenwriter hires Calvino to investigate her death. Everyone except Calvino’s client believes Samantha McNeal has committed suicide.
In the early days of the Internet, Sam ran with a young and wild expat crowd in Bangkok: a Net-savvy pornographer, a Thai hooker plotting to hit it big in cyberspace, an angry feminist with an agenda, a starving writer-cum-scam artist, a Hollywoord legend with a severe case of The Sickness. As Calvino slides into a world where people are dead serious about sex, money and fame, he unearths a hedonistic community where the ritual of death is the ultimate high.
“An excellent read, charming, amusing, insightful, complex, localized yet startlingly universal in its themes.”
—Guide of Bangkok
“Highly entertaining.”—Bangkok Post
“A good read, fast-paced and laced with so many of the locales so familiar to the expat denizens of Bangkok.”
—Art of Living (Thailand)
“Like a noisy, late-night Thai restaurant, Moore serves up tongue-burning spices that swallow up the literature of Generation X and cyberpsace as if they were merely sticky rice.”—The Daily Yomiuri
COLD HIT
Sixth in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2004) ISBN 974-920104-1-7
Five foreigners have died in Bangkok. Were they drug overdose victims or victims of a serial killer? Calvino believes the evidence points to a serial killer who stalks tourists in Bangkok. The Thai police, including Calvino’s best friend and buddy Colonel Pratt, don’t buy his theory.
Calvino teams up with an LAPD officer on a bodyguard assignment. Hidden forces pull them through swank shopping malls, rundown hotels, Klong Toey slum, and the Bangkok bars as they try to keep their man and themselves alive. As Calvino learns more about the bodies being shipped back to America, the secret of the serial killer is revealed.
“The story is plausible and riveting to the end.”
—The Japan Times
“Tight, intricate plotting, wickedly astute ... Cold Hit will have you variously gasping, chuckling, nodding, tut-tutting, ohyesing, and grinding your teeth throughout its 330 pages.”—Guide of Bangkok
“The plot is equally tricky, brilliantly devised, and clear. One of the best crime fiction in the first half of the year.”
—Ultimo Biedlefeld (Germany)
“Moore depicts the city from below. He shows its dirt, its inner conflicts, its cruelty, its devotion. Hard, cruel, comical and good.”—Readme.de
MINOR WIFE
Seventh in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2004) ISBN 974-92126-5-7
A contemporary murder set in Bangkok—a neighbor and friend, a young ex-hooker turned artist, is found dead by an American millionaire’s minor wife. Her rich expat husband hires Calvino to investigate. While searching for the killer in exclusive clubs and not-so-exclusive bars of Bangkok, Calvino discovers that a minor wife—mia noi—has everything to do with a woman’s status. From illegal cock fighting matches to elite Bangkok golf clubs, Calvino finds himself caught in the crossfire as he closes in on the murderer.
“The thriller moves in those convoluted circles within which Thai life and society takes place. Moore’s knowledge of these gives insights into many aspects of the cultural mores ... unknown to the expat population. Great writing, great story and a great read.”—Pattaya Mail
“What distinguishes Christopher G. Moore from other foreign authors setting their stories in the Land of Smiles is how much more he understands its mystique, the psyche of its populace and the futility of its round residents trying to fit into its square holes.”—Bangkok Post
“Moore pursues in even greater detail in Minor Wife the changing social roles of Thai women (changing, but not always quickly or for the better) and their relations among themselves and across class lines and other barriers.”
—Vancouver Sun
PATTAYA 24/7
Eighth in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2008) ISBN 978-974-8418-41-4
Inside a secluded, lush estate located on the edge of Pattaya, an eccentric Englishman’s gardener is found hanged. Calvino has been hired to investigate. He finds himself pulled deep into the shadows of the war against drugs, into the empire of a local warlord with the trail leading to a terrorist who has caused Code Orange alerts to flash across the screen of American intelligence.
In a story packed with twists and turns, Calvino traces the links from the gardener’s past to the door of men with power and influence who have everything to lose if the mystery of the gardener’s death is solved.
“Original, provocative, and rich with details and insights into the underworld of Thai police, provincial gangsters, hit squads, and terrorists.”
—Pieke Bierman, award-wining author of Violetta
“Intelligent and articulate, Moore offers a rich, passionate and original take on the private-eye game, fans of the genre should definitely investigate, and fans of foreign intrigue will definitely enjoy.”—Kevin Burton Smith, January Magazine
“A cast of memorably eccentric figures in an exotic Southeast Asian backdrop.”—The Japan Times
“The best in the Calvino series ... The story is compelling.”
—Bangkok Post
THE RISK OF INFIDELITY INDEX
Ninth in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2007) ISBN 974-88168-7-6
Major political demonstrations are rocking Bangkok. Chaos and fear sweep through the Thai and expatriate communities. Calvino steps into the political firestorm as he investigates a drug piracy operation. The piracy is traced to a powerful business interest protected by important political connections.
A nineteen-year-old Thai woman and a middle-age lawyer end up dead on the same evening. Both are connected to Calvino’s investigation. The dead lawyer’s law firm denies any knowledge of the case. Calvino is left in the cold. Approached by a group of expat housewives—rattled by The Risk of Infidelity Index that ranks Bangkok number one for available sexual temptations—to investigate their husbands, Calvino discovers the alliance of forces blocking his effort to disclose the secret pirate drug investigation.
“A hard-boiled, street-smart, often hilarious pursuit of a double murderer.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“There’s plenty of violent action ... Memorable low-life characters ... The real star of the book is Bangkok.”
—Telegraph (London)
“Taut, spooky, intelligent, and beautifully written.”
—T. Jefferson Parker
“A complex, intelligent novel.”—Publishers’ Weekly
“The darkly raffish Bangkok milieu is a treat.”
—Kirkus Review
PAYING BACK JACK
Tenth in the series
Heaven Lake Press (2009) ISBN 978-974-312-920-9
In Paying Back Jack, Calvino agrees to follow the ‘minor wife’ of a Thai politician and report on her movements. His client is
Rick Casey, a shady American whose life has been darkened by the unsolved murder of his idealistic son. It seems to be a simple surveillance job, but soon Calvino is entangled in a dangerous web of political allegiance and a reckless quest for revenge.
The Marriage Tree Page 37