John Burdett's famed Royal Thai detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is put to the test both as a Buddhist and as a cop as he confronts the most shocking crime of his career.
A rich American film director has been murdered. It is an intriguing case, and solving it could lead to a promotion for Sonchai, but, as always, he is far more concerned with the state of his karma than he is with his status in the earthly realm. To complicate matters his boss, Colonel Vikorn, has decided to make Sonchai his consigliere in a heroin smuggling operation. Sonchai travels to Kathmandu to meet Vikorn's connection Tietsin, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, and falls under the sway of this dark and charismatic guru.
""Burdett's fever-dream mysteries recast the police procedural as psychedelic peep show.""--The New Yorker
""John Burdett is writing the most exciting set of crime novels in the world.""--The Oregonian
""Godfather is written with Burdett's characteristic zest, serving up pungent slices of Bangkok's bazaars and waterways.""--The Boston Globe
""A Thai tale of corruption, mayhem and intrigue.""--San Francisco Chronicle
“It is the mordant wit of his exhaustively observant ‘monk manqué’ hero that fuels this blissful and dexterous book.”—Houston Chronicle
“This is a novel brimming with observations and arguments, with absurdity and jokes . . . Witty, learned, and wild.”—The Washington Post Book World
“The spiciest yet of Burdett’s exotic dishes.”—The Times (London)
“Burdett’s latest mystery is delightfully ambiguous, like life itself.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Block out several hours to read it in one sitting. Once you start, you won’t get anything else done until you finish it.”—Bookpage (Mystery of the Month)
“A dizzying array of multifaceted storylines. . . . Burdett juggles the various plots with great dexterity . . . A whirlwind of a novel.”—Booklist (starred)
“A blissfully nutty caper that brings back fond memories of the late lamented Ross Thomas’s crazy-quilt crime fiction . . . Distinguishing crooks from good guys is only one of the pleasures [here] . . . Sonchai’s wry narrative voice (think: exotic Philip Marlowe) keeps us hooked.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
