Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
Rituals. Killers. Wars. & Sex.: Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka & New York Gripping, absurd, tragic and resplendent – a correspondent’s life on the margins of victory, tragedy, death and sex. I can’t recommend this book enough to anyone remotely interested in the seamier and bloodier side of recent Asian history and […]
Continue ReadingTom Vater’s favorite opening line in literature is Hunter S Thompson’s awesome first words in ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’. We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. On a recent trip to California I drove from LA to Fresno. With Hunter in mind, […]
Continue ReadingI liked this story because the characters were planned very well. I say this because they were both American and Arabic. It had an interesting perspective and used the Aramaic language to enhance reader identification. It was a spy story told from the other side of the coin. An interesting read. Great review by Haley […]
Continue ReadingVery proud to have my latest short story, the Morocco set To Kill An Arab, in A Time for Violence, a love letter to the great anthologies of yesteryear, assembling stories by a variety of talents, connected by a singular theme. Other authors include fellow Crime Wave Press stalwarts Tony Knighton, Elka Ray, Andy Rausch […]
Continue ReadingMy first encounter with Scott Nicholson was as formidable and extraordinary as our 19 year friendship. I found him sitting in the surf on a remote beach in the Andaman Islands, in 2000. I was about to go swimming and we said hello to each other, the way two westerners do three thousand miles from […]
Continue ReadingA short essay on politics and crime fiction, published at b for bookreview. A while ago, I had a conversation with an American book reviewer about politics in crime fiction. He felt that overt political messages do not belong in the genre. I felt that covert or subconscious political leanings are part and parcel of […]
Continue ReadingThe Monsoon Ghost Image, the third installment of the Detective Maier series, published by Crime Wave Press, is on a virtual book tour this week. And an ebook copy is yours for just 99cents. The third Detective Maier mystery is a taut and crazy spy thriller for our disturbing times. When award-winning German conflict photographer […]
Continue ReadingAll three Detective Maier novels, including my brand new title, The Monsoon Ghost Image, are available from Crime Wave Press via Amazon in one handy The Detective Maier Mystery Series package for less than 10US$.
Continue ReadingFellow author Janet Brown has posted a fantastic and very thorough review of The Monsoon Ghost Image on Amazon. E book copies are US$3.99 at the moment. It’s not easy to find a true noir detective in fiction these days, probably because as the German gumshoe Maier decides in The Monsoon Ghost Image, “Why solve […]
Continue Reading‘ Men Reading Books found my just published novel The Monsoon Ghost Image a little disturbing… The Monsoon Ghost Image by Tom Vater is a very dark murder mystery which takes place in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand and Cambodia. The book starts in late 2002, and the course of the story covers about six months. […]
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