Christopher G. Moore's Asia Fiction, E-Book Online, Best Sellers

Vincent Calvino P.I. series

Christopher G. Moore’s private eye Vincent Calvino has been a fixture on the literary scene since 1991 with the publication of Spirit House. In 2004 the eighth novel in the series titled Pattaya 24/7 was released. Novels from the Vincent Calvino series have been translated into German, Japanese, Chinese and Thai where they have found a loyal following. Kevin Burton Smith of The Thrilling Detective, has written that Moore’s “detective novels, featuring Bangkok-based private eye VINCENT CALVINO, are the most popular of all, able to hold their own against the likes of heavyweights like Michael Crichton and Stephen King. Calvino, in fact, is one of the world's most popular and best-selling eyes.”

"Vinee" Calvino comes from New York City. He runs a private operation in the heart of Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok. After years of cases, Vinee has concluded that as a foreigner he will always remain an outsider. This results in Calvino needing to come up with an attitude about his job, Thai culture, and the day-to-day life. He walks a tightrope between influential figures who operate in a world above the law and his fierce sense of justice and rule of law. He has codified his own set of personal rules by which to live and survive, including "only marry an orphan". Calvino’s world is only possible because of his close connection with his long-time friend, Thai Police Lieutenant-Colonel Prachai "Pratt" Congwatana. Their friendship dates back to Pratt’s student’s days in New York City.

Quoting one of crime fiction’s best known reviewers, Kevin Burton Smith, “A big part of Moore's charm is his unerring eye for the intricacies of not just the Thai culture but also the Thai psyche, and the curious demimonde of the expat community, caught forever in the tug-of-war between East and West. Calvino's world is one of foreign correspondents, diplomats, business executives, English language teachers, adventurers, drunks, con artists, whores and hustlers, all unwilling, unable or uninterested in going home. From what I've heard, he captures the sights and sounds and the lights of Bangkok's nightlife particularly well.”

Christopher G. Moore discusses the background of setting the Vincent Calvino novels in Bangkok in an article title *Big Money, Big Crime*, Big money and crime have been cozy bedfellows in literature. Writers long ago discovered that exploring the complexity in this connection yields a powerful combination of passion, adventure, intrigue, betrayal, and danger. Crime fiction becomes a literary search for motives and intentions of the players in the big money drama where crime operates as it has always done: another market force allocating resources.

The third novel in the series (Zero Hour in Phnom Penh (Cut Out) or Stunde Null in Phnom Penh) has won Premio Especial de la Semana Negra (Special Award of the Noir Week) 2007, Spain in 2007 and the prestigious German Critics Award for Crime Fiction (Deutscher Krimi Preis) in 2004. The ninth novel in the series is The Risk of Infidelity Index and the new Calvino title will be released in January 2007.

Vencent Calvino the official website: www.vincentcalvino.com