Spirit House: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel (Vincent Calvino Novels) [Paperback]

Christopher G. Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008 | Series: Vincent Calvino Novels

In the nearly twenty years he has lived in Bangkok, Christopher G. Moore has written nine novels starring Vincent Calvino, a disbarred American lawyer working as a PI in the dark and steamy Thai capital. Internationally acclaimed, the prizewinning novels have been translated into ten languages. Now Spirit House, the first novel in the series, is finally available in North America.

A farang is dead and the Bangkok police have a confession the next morning from a young paint-thinner addict. He claims he killed Ben Hoadly, an expat Brit, but Calvino has his doubts when he sees heavy bruises on the kid’s face. In no time Calvino is working both sides, out to find the killer for Hoadly’s wealthy father, and eager to clear the addict’s name for a beautiful friend who runs a charity in the slums. With the help of his best friend, Pratt, a Shakespeare quoting Thai police colonel, and his loyal assistant, Ratana, Calvino plunges into the dangerous world of addicts, dealers, fortune tellers, inexpensive hit men, oversexed foreigners, and professional bar girls. Spirit House is a thrilling introduction to Vincent Calvino and Christopher G. Moore’s Bangkok.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A worthy example of a serial character, Vinee Calvino is human and convincing. [He] is an incarnate of the composite of the many expatriate characters who have burned the bridge to their pasts." --Thriller Magazine (Italy)

"The end of the world for a whole host of bizarre foreigners unwilling, unable, or uninterested in going home."
--The Daily Yomiuri

"For those who love Asia, they will devour Moore's novels. He opens [Bangkok] in her darkest, most amusing facets."
--Stadtmagazin Krefeld

About the Author

Christopher G. Moore is a Canadian author of 22 novels, a non-fiction, one collection of interlocked short stories, and one book on Thai language. Oxford-educated, Moore was a law professor at the University of British Columbia for 10 years. His first book His Lordship's Arsenal was published in New York to a critical acclaim in 1985, when he decided to become a full-time writer.

Moore moved to Thailand in 1988 and from Bangkok continued to write literary and commercial fiction. He has attained somewhat of a cult status among his readers in Asia and Europe and has an increasingly strong following in North America. Moore is probably best known by his cult classics, Land of Smiles Trilogy, his behind-the-smiles study of his adopted country, Thailand, and his highly popular Vincent Calvino Private Eye series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802143520
• ISBN-13: 978-0802143525
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A mystery detective with cynicism and heart! July 7, 2005

By Valerie Matteson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

The locale is Bangkok, Thailand and the story begins with the dream or nightmare of Vincent Calvino. Calvino is an ex-lawyer, ex-cop who does private investigation work - when he can get it. He is a drunk and also uses whores, smokes, etc. His dream is about a friend who was recently killed and in the dream someone is coming after him as well. He wakes from this dream/nightmare at his apartment next to a Thai whore whose name he has forgotten - again. That is because he was so inebriated he couldn't remember. His housekeeper, Mrs. Jamthong - who is a hoot all by herself!, wakes him yelling at him that he is late for work and to come eat breakfast. The prostitute leaves and Calvino (known to the Thais as "Khun Winee" since they can't pronounce the "v" for "Vinee") gets to the table to read the paper. He sees a photo of a man slumped over a desk - dead. His assistant, Ratana, calls and tells him to call her as soon as he is through with his meal. He recognizes he knows the dead "farang" - white man or foreigner to the Thais. He is a Brit named Ben Hoadley. He gets to his office and finds that Ben Hoadley's father in England wants Calvino to investigate his son's murder. The Thai newspaper reported that a "thinner addict" had done the deed. Into his office comes Kiko, friend and romantic interest, who knows the thinner addict, Lek, and swears that he could not have done it.

Thus begins an amazing string of events as Calvino works with Kiko, Pratt (a friend in the Bangkok police) and uncovers the motives and events of why first Jeff Logan and then Ben Hoadley and during the course of the story several others were murdered. How Calvino gets to the resolution amid the extreme dangers he and others around him face is a fantastic tale of suspense, mystery, intrigue and the underworld.

As a woman, I would say that Vincent Calvino is a true man's man and the kind of detective that men more than women would enjoy reading about. The Spirit House is the first of the many novels that Mr. Moore has written about Calvino. The details and descriptions are very image and thought provoking. I highly recommend it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-Read International Criminal Thriller August 7, 2008

By Stephen Matzie

Format:Kindle Edition

Through the underbelly Bangkok, Vincent Calvino confronts crime bosses, corrupt cops, prostitutes, slum dwellers, and addicts to unravel this murder mystery. Where the truth often takes the back seat to other other cultural values, Thailand is a perfect setting for the novel. The reader is positioned right on the edge between the expat life and local community- getting real insight into both worlds. It feels like you could get sucked into the Bangkok mess at any moment.

To this end, Christopher Moore is a very clever author, with a style closer to Film Noir rather than the everyday P.I./mystery writers. His protagonist, Vincent Calvino, is an unassuming hero who regularly drinks, visits the red lights of Patpong, and barely scrapes by. Yet, he preserves relentlessly where few others do (or are willing to go). He is certainly not against rolling up his sleeves and getting dirty, or bloody, whatever the case may be.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting twist on a familiar genre October 14, 2008

By S. Holsinger

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A typical, modern, conflicted "gumshoe" story is made all the more interesting by the exotic (and erotic) backdrop. If set in LA, the hero's personality would border on trite. In Bangkok, it is a stark contrast to the wasted expats, elitism of the rich, and despair of the destitute.

I found the story engaging, fast-paced, and interesting while being informative about the culture and subculture of such a famous foreign city. The plot made sense, and the characters were believable and identifiable despite being foreign. This is very much an American perspective against a foreign backdrop, and the story does a very good job at keeping the two separate.

It is at times a little rough, and most likely not for those easily offended by sexual violence or those looking for a "Murder She Wrote" mystery. If you want to explore some of the darker aspects of the human spirit from an American perspective in an international setting, and get a good mystery thrown in, and maintain some hope for humanity in the process, then this is a read for you.

WORD OF WARNING -- this book is the first of a series. I stumbled upon it accidentally by fat-fingering an order for a Christopher Moore (without the G.) novel. I would very much like to continue the series on my Kindle, but like some other series, NOT ALL ARE YET AVAILABLE FOR THE KINDLE at the time of this writing. I would strongly suggest that you check the availability of the other books in this series and weigh that in your decision. At the least, you may want to submit a request to the publisher to produce a Kindle edition of the presently unavailable volumes to avoid having to go to paper to fill in the gaps.