Customer Reviews

Thai Died: A Stud Draqual Mystery (Stud Draqual Mysteries)

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Is he or isn't he? Gay, that is. Or bi. Does anyone know for certain? Does Stud Draqual, himself, know? Does he even care?

All we know for certain is that Stud is his real name, he is a world-traveling silk merchant, a self-described "famous designer of silken underwear for wealthy women," a gorgeous man who attracts danger and excitement the way a dog attracts fleas. Within hours of his arrival in Thailand--a place he knows well--he has been shot at and, by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, been nearly blown to smithereens. Not even recovered from that, he finds himself in a sanctuary with a bugged phone, and before you can blink, he's face down in the back of a taxi with a smelly blanket covering him, on the way to ... he doesn't know where. And that's just in the first sixty pages!

Nor are danger and intrigue all that follows the aptly named Stud; men and women, all equally beautiful and dangerous, throw themselves in his path and Stud seldom sees a reason to step aside or avert his eyes. When he does manage to step aside or avert his eyes another portion of his anatomy tends to pay attention.

Thai Died is sexy and violent, exotic, fascinating, and funny. Stud's - I mean William Maltese's - brisk dialogue, ironic asides, and pithy observations never flag.

Maltese is a master of his craft, whether he's describing Thailand's gorgeous buildings and beautiful people, its squalor and filth, or the shocking murder of an exotic dancer in a private BDSM club, during a performance, in full view of the audience.

As with many of Maltese's books, there is a lot of explicit sex. Chances are your granny, your third grade teacher, and your preacher would be horrified (or maybe not as much as you might think). Although Maltese has recently written Young Adult fiction, this ain't it. I'm not particularly a fan of explicit sex in fiction, but when it's done with style and panache, and the scenes are an integral part of the story rather than something thrown in to get the reader's rocks off, I'm okay with it.

The number of books bearing the name of William Maltese just keeps growing... and growing ... and growing, as does his popularity.

I read this years ago and enjoyed it. I just re-read it and still enjoyed it. It's also available in E-book formats now, including the Kindle.

Reviewer: Ruth Sims -- author of Counterpoint: Dylan's Story

If you've not had the pleasure of reading William Maltese's infamous Doppelmorder, his German-language short-story (not yet offered in English-language translation), that had at least one German critic label the author A Grand Master of the mystery genre ... If you have read several of Maltese's English-language books (and there are several), and you agree he's good but still aren't sure he's all that great ... Don't pass up buying THAI DIED. It may not possess the short-term visceral punch of his tour-de-force Dooppelmorder, but it certainly places the author right up there with the very best of mystery writers, gay or otherwise.

This book's mysteries (and there are more than one to be solved), its story-lines (and there are several), its character development (even the villains are multi-faceted and fascinating), weave a tapestry as complex and luxurious as any of the silk fabric the book's protagonist is in Bangkok to buy. The locale not the only thing that differentiates this book from its New York City-based predecessor, A SLIP TO DIE FOR (both books part of the author's Stud Draqual Mystery Series). This book is longer. This book has more involved and interesting plot-lines. This book offers even more chance for its hero to succumb to temptation, as he's pressured not only by a gay mercenary but also by a jaded Thai hustler. This book has a new publisher, Green Candy Press, that has done a bang-up job by way of packaging, from the Thai script and numerical chapter headings, to the flashy tie-dyed Thai silk of the cover backdrop, to the bloody fingerprints (and errant false eyelash) surprisingly found printed on the inside of the front (and back) cover.

Finally, this book has large dollops of Maltese's trademark literary sensuality.

In short, this book has everything, including intense enjoyability, to make it a classic in its genre.