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Series Review
Sam Spade Reincarnated
As Bangkok-based PI
Vincent Calvino, with his big heart and his Brooklyn bravado, is the hero of 14 novels in the Vincent Calvino Mystery Books. Vinnie brings the big mysteries of Bangkok to life--how to drive, wai, and die like a Thai--while he hunts murderers among Thailand's endlessly corrupt and entitled power brokers.
Highly recommended to all fans of the hardboiled style
If you like to see the powerful and predatory get a dose of their own medicine (and who doesn't), these books are for you. If you like books with a sense of place, these books are for you. (Calvino's Bangkok is beautifully described.) If you like a tough-guy with a heart of gold, these books are for you. Not surprisingly, this series, which is (relatively) newly available in North America, already has a cult following in Asia and Europe.
Series Guide
Work your way backwards from most recent to older.
Book Summaries
Below, the detective novels in this crime series in chronological order:
Spirit House (2008, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #1)
Calvino steps in when the police beat a confession out of a drug-addled expat.Asia Hand (2010, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #2)
Calvino's Chinese New Year celebration is interrupted when Thai cops fish the body of a farang cameraman out of Lumpini Park Lake.Zero Hour in Phnom Penh (2005, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #3)
Calvino traces leads on a missing farang from Bangkok to war-torn Phnom Penh, Cambodia where gunfire can be heard nightly. Soon enough, Calvino learns he is not the only one looking for the farang...Comfort Zone (2001, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #4)
An ex-special forces vet hires Calvino to find his younger brother, last seen in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where business is booming and a new generation of foreigners have arrived to make money and not war. The Big Weird (2008, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #5)
A big-time Hollywood screenwriter on a sex vacation in Bangkok hires Calvino to investigate the death of a beautiful American bombshell.Cold Hit (2004, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #6)
A serial killer stalks expats in Bangkok.Minor Wife (2004, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #7)
An ex- hooker turned artist is found dead by an American millionaire's minor wife. Her rich expat husband hires Calvino to investigate.Pattaya 24/ 7 (2008, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #8)
An ordinary murder investigation pulls Calvino deep into the shadowy war on drugs.Risk of Infidelity Index (2007, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #9)
Calvino, a broke Italian-Jewish PI from Brooklyn, tries to find a murderer and a paying client among the jealous wives, ruthless drug dealers, depressed bar girls, fanatic foodies, down-and-out expats, corrupt cops, and depraved mega-rich of Bangkok. Paying Back Jack (2009, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #10)
First Vinnie narrowly escapes an attempt on his life, then someone tries to blame him for a double murder...and from there things get really dicey.The Corruptionist (2009, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #11)
Hired to do due diligence for a corporate deal, Calvino soon finds himself embroiled in a political conspiracy...and then the bodies start piling up.9 Gold Bullets (2010, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #12)
Calvino's childhood friend comes to Bangkok to run an errand for his Russian gangster client. So who better to finger for the crime when a coin collector and his priceless collection of gold coins go missing?Missing in Rangoon (2012, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #13)
Myanmar is opening its doors to foreigners including Calvino who heads to Rangoon in search of a missing expat and Pratt who is sent by the Thai police force to wrangle with the local drug lords.The Marriage Tree (2014, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #14)
Haunted by recent deaths in Bangkok and Rangoon, Calvino stumbles into another murder case which leads to an underground network that smuggles Rohingya people--persecuted and abused in their home country--out of Myanmar.(Read Missing in Rangoon (#13) first.)
Down the Mean Streets with
P.I. Vincent Calvino
P.I. Vincent Calvino takes on all the demons he encounters, whether they arise from his own psyche or from Bangkok's mean streets.
When this series begins, forty-year old disbarred lawyer Calvino is down on his luck: jobs are few and far between. He is spending more time drinking than working and has the epic nightmares and hangovers to prove it.
His cleaner has started telling him she expects him to expire from a heart attack any day now. Bangkok, she believes, kills all farangs (Westerners) before their time: some combination of Thai hot weather, Bangkok air pollution, Mekong whiskey, and non-stop nightlife does them in.
This hardboiled series reveals much about the complex Thai culture and chronicles recent political events.
Book Reviews
Vincent Calvino Series
(From newest to oldest; Dates refer to publication in the US in English;
# refers to series order)
Above, from top to bottom:
Temples in Bangkok, Thailand; Red Light District in Bangkok; Cops in riot gear in Bangkok; River scene in Bangkok
(2009, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #10)
by Christopher G. Moore
A couple of new characters share the spotlight with Vinnie in this book. I enjoyed the story which is multi-layered and scary.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2009, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #11)
by Christopher G. Moore
Vinnie is sadder (and richer) here than in earlier books. He has looked long into the abyss of corruption and it eventually looked back.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2010, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #12)
by Christopher G. Moore
Nice to see Vinnie back in his native New York (for part of the book).
Suspense to spare and a somewhat wistful meditation on friendship and belonging.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2012, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #13)
by Christopher G. Moore
Stellar addition to a stellar series
Plus: Great local color in Myanmar aka Burma
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Myanmar)
(2004, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #6)
by Christopher G. Moore
NOT YET REVIEWED
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2004, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #7)
by Christopher G. Moore
NOT YET REVIEWED
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2008, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #8)
by Christopher G. Moore
NOT YET REVIEWED
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2007, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #9)
by Christopher G. Moore
A hoot!!
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2008, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #5)
by Christopher G. Moore
May be my favorite in the series. Delves deeply into the expat community. Couldn't put it down.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2010, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #2)
by Christopher G. Moore
WINNER! 2011 Shamus Award for Best Paperback Original
This is a great series, but this book is the one I would skip. It's occasionally hard to follow the plot.
Plus: Joy the German Shepard.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2005, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #3)
by Christopher G. Moore
WINNER! 2004 German Critics Award for Crime Fiction WINNER! 2007 Premier Special Director Book Award
Vivid and scary. Calvino braves the desperate depths of Phnom Penh, Cambodia where people ruined by endless years of violence struggle to find a way forward.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Cambodia)
(2001, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #4)
by Christopher G. Moore
Fascinating for the glimpse into Vietnamese life and for the high-wire suspense.
Plus: Nifty use for the box from a bottle of Johnny Walker.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Vietnam)
(2008, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #1)
by Christopher G. Moore
If you love tough-guys and hardboiled mysteries, you'll love Vincent Calvino. Bangkok is brutal and beautifully rendered.
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Thailand)
(2014, Vincent Calvino Mystery Books #14)
by Christopher G. Moore
NOT YET REVIEWED
(Noir aka Hardboiled. Private Investigators. Set in Myanmar)
Other mystery series set in Thailand:
- Jimm Juree Mystery Books by Colin Cotterill
- Poke Rafferty Thrillers by Timothy Hallinan
- Royal Thai Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep Mystery Books by John Burdett
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