Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
The third updated edition of Moon Angkor Wat, my English language guide to the Angkor temples in Cambodia is out now, both in print and ebook format. Reviewer Janet Brown had this to say: I’m the kind of person who reads guidebooks to remember where I’ve been as well as to plan my next destination […]
Continue ReadingCol’s Criminal Library posted a fantastic review of The Monsoon Ghost Image today. Late to the party as usual with my first taste of Tom Vater’s Detective Maier series in what may prove to be his final outing. Tense, violent, brutal, gripping, stunning and a savage indictment on how America conducts itself overseas in a […]
Continue Reading“I’d read anything written by Tom Vater — his mind works in strange and mysterious ways, a quality I genuinely appreciate in the crime fiction universe” Latest, very kind review of The Monsoon Ghost Image by Nancy O at Crime Segments. My first experience with this small indie press was, coincidentally, a book by the […]
Continue ReadingA few words om the excellent art house movie PsycheDelhi by Surya Dash. If Godard and Tarkovsky had conceived an illegitimate child, with an anarchist bohemian Brahmin capturing the surrealist copulation on camera round the back of a chowk in the Indian capital, the offspring might look something like PsycheDelhi. Delhi is usually perceived […]
Continue ReadingI recently reviewed the quite unique Bangkok Publishing House in The Daily Telegraph. The Bangkok Publishing Residence is a unique property, a one-off, and a very personable hotel experience. The building started as a row of 1960s shophouses, though most of the walls and floors have been removed, creating a beautifully open ground-floor space that’s […]
Continue ReadingGreat write-up by Paul Dorsey in today’s Nation newspaper for the Mekong Shadows anthology with praise for The Cambodian Book of the Dead. The anthology’s best episode, hands down, is actually a long excerpt from “The Cambodian Book of the Dead”, a taut and disturbing novel by Tom Vater (“Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos”). […]
Continue ReadingThe Man with the Golden Mind gets a great review at Literary Fits. “I am again impressed with a Crime Wave Press offering, this one being a Cold War aftermath spy thriller set in a country about which I knew very little: Laos. Tom Vater sets up an intricate and complicated plot which I found […]
Continue Reading“Quintessentially this exhilarating read incorporates everything from lies and deception through to sex, betrayal and death, offering the reader an exercise in edge of your seat action combined with strong storytelling and believable characterisation.” The Man with the Golden Mind, the second […]
Continue Reading“A detective should have facts, but sometimes, you just had to dance to the song playing on the jukebox, work the instinct routine, wherever it takes you.” James Newman is cutting his anchors and leaving the shore. He probably sails under a black flag and his destination is rather undefined. He’s not concerned with […]
Continue ReadingI’ve recently reviewed six hotels in Kandy, Sri Lanka for The Daily Telegraph. Kandy House, the former home of the last king of Ceylon, now a stunning hotel property amidst jungle and paddy fields outside of town, was a particular highlight.
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