Asia Hand: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel

First published in 1993 in Thailand in a small English-language edition, Moore's stylish second Bangkok thriller featuring disbarred American lawyer Vincent Calvino (after Spirit House) finds Calvino and his best friend, Col. Prachai "Pratt" Chongwatana of the Thai police, investigating the death of U.S. ex-pat Jerry Hutton, a freelance cameraman. Hutton drowned in a lake while wearing "a necklace of small wooden penises," amulets worn by upcountry farmers, not foreigners. Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? The trail leads to a mysterious American colonel involved with a movie being filmed in Bangkok, Lucky Charms, whose purpose has more to do with spies and murder than entertainment. Calvino and Pratt quote a lot of Shakespeare as the author explores the dark side of both Bangkok and the human heart. Felicitous prose speeds the action along, as in this snapshot of a Thai bar girl: "Her meter had clocked more than a few miles; but she was still roadworthy as she turned the last corner on her thirties"). (July)