Cambodia – Tom Vater

Detective Maier Mysteries Collection out now!

March 31, 2023March 31, 2023tom

Between 2013 and 2018, I published three crime novels featuring Maier, a former conflict journalist turned detective.Based in Hamburg, Maier solves crimes involving Germans who have gotten in trouble in Asia.The first two books in the series, The Cambodian Book of the Dead and The Man with the Golden Mind were published to great critical […]

Siem Reap, reinventing the arteries of Angkor, in Nikkei Asia

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022tom

Cambodia’s once-thriving tourist town rises from the ashes of COVID-19. My latest story in Nikkei Asia. SIEM REAP, Cambodia — For nearly 20 years, the magnificent Angkor monuments in western Cambodia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, have been a magnet for millions of international travelers. As the tourists poured in, Siem Reap, the town closest […]

A forest saved? – Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao Protected Forest escapes logging but faces an uncertain future, in Eco-Business

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022tom

A protected nature reserve was spared complete destruction when Cambodia’s prime minister stepped in after a public outcry. Replanting has begun to restore the forest – but with saplings that could be for a timber plantation. On 1 August, 2022, excavators began tearing down parts of the Phnom Tamao Protected Forest, an area of 2,300 hectares […]

The Best Books on Cambodia

September 12, 2021September 12, 2021tom

It’s hard picking just five best books on Cambodia. A lot has been written on the beautiful and troubled Southeast Asian kingdom. So here are a few favorites. Check out my selection of the Best Books on Cambodia. Happy reading.

The Cambodian Book of the Dead – out now with Next Chapter

August 25, 2021August 26, 2021tom

Cambodia, 2001 – a country re-emerging from a half-century of war, genocide, famine and cultural collapse. German Detective Maier travels to Phnom Penh, the Asian kingdom’s ramshackle capital, to find the heir to a Hamburg coffee empire. As soon as the private eye and former war reporter arrives in Cambodia, his search for the young […]

Cover Preview – The Cambodian Book of the Dead – Out soon

August 19, 2021August 18, 2021tom

A brand new edition of The Cambodian Book of the Dead, the first Detective Maier Mystery will be out soon with Next Chapter as ebook, paperback, large print and audio book. And here’s the new cover.

Kitty Lisha reviews The Cambodian Book of the Dead

May 28, 2021June 13, 2021tom

Thanks to Kitty Lisha for a fair review of The Cambodian Book of the Dead, the first Detective Maier Mystery, originally published in 2013. This book….this book. Where to begin. It has a lot of facts in it. I didn’t fact check them. Didn’t really have the desire to if we are being honest here […]

Howl – Face Masks & Hand Gels anthology – A Year of Living Covidly

March 1, 2021June 13, 2021tomLeave a Comment

Very happy to have one of my short stories – Bag Times at the Blue Parrot – published in Face Masks and Hand Gels, a Covid-inspired literary anthology published by the Howl Literary Cooperative in Cambodia. Read Bag Times at the Blue Parrot here.

Short story ‘Bag Time at the Blue Parrot’ in new anthology ‘Face Masks and Hand Gels: A Year of Living Covidly’

October 29, 2020October 29, 2020tomLeave a Comment

My short story Bag Times at the Blue Parrot is soon to be published in a new anthology published by Howl in Cambodia. Face Masks and Hand Gels: A Year of Living Covidly is the first book by the literary organization. Howl’s founder, Wayne McCallum says, “The book features poems and prose from the Lockdown […]

Detective Maier in Suspense Magazine

April 29, 2020May 29, 2020tomLeave a Comment

I recently published The Name’s Maier – Welcome to the Far East, an essay on the world of my fictional detective and his latest mystery in The Monsoon Ghost Image, in Suspense Magazine. Here is an excerpt: Southeast Asia is a fascinating part of the world to live in and write about. The region is […]