Foreign Investigators: Crime Fiction in a Thai Setting

American author Timothy Hallinan, meanwhile, is under the wings of a major New York publisher. His private eye is an investigative journalist by the name of Philip ‘Poke Rafferty and has featured in a series of novels. Hallinan’s books “A Nail Through the Heart”, “The Fourth Watcher” and “Breathing Water” have all received warm reviews in the United States and gained him a solid following among crime fictionaficionados. The author spends some 6 months each year in Southeast Asia and thus knows the ins and outs well, which is reflected in his meticulously researched novels.

American expat Jake Needham has shelled out four contemporary crime novels since the year 2000, but only two of them feature a recurring protagonist in the form of financial lawyer-turned-hobby detective Jack Sheperd. In “The Laundry Man” (originally published under the title “Tea Money”), Sheperd is sucked into a thrilling money scam that involves an Asian bank whose identity remains obscure throughout the pages. During the course of the story, Sheperd is approached by an old “colleague” who not only wants him to locate the missing funds but actually steal them back. Sheperd surfaces once again in “Killing Plato”. Mostly set in Phuket for a change, the narrative follows Sheperd in his wild pursuit of the world’s most wanted fugitive; not Thaksin Shinawatra, but a bloke called Plato Karsarkis (if I may be permitted this little tongue-in-cheek remark). The author’s very first bestselling novel, “The Big Mango”, had another fictitious ex-lawyer, Eddie Dare, embark on a mission that starts off in New York and via San Francisco concludes in Bangkok in an attempt to recover a stash of $400 million that decades earlier were slipped out of the Bank of Vietnam by the CIA. In “The Ambassador’s Wife” Thailand does not feature prominently except for a few chapters. The main action takes place in Singapore where Inspector Tay, a man of many boring habits and with an uninspired life, tries to solve the horrid murder of, well, the title character. Needham’s mastery of writing particularly shines in this volume as he is able to captivate his readers from the first page to the last despite the fact that Inspector Tay is anything but a daredevil.

“Skytrain to Murder” by another Bangkok Old Hand, Dean Barrett, introduced insatiable crime fiction addicts to Scott Sterling, an ex-CIA agent who lives in a small apartment above a seedy bar and – when he doesn’t give scuba diving lessons – moonlights as a private investigator. He suspects little when he meets a young woman in the joint downstairs; certainly not that he would be soon investigating her murder, with his own girlfriend being the prime suspect! Barrett’s in-depth knowledge of local culture clearly shows as he sends his character on the chase. Barrett is honest (or conscious?) enough to highlight the beautiful as well as the ugly sides of Thailand, offering his readers a lot of insight. Sterling, meanwhile, truly is a sleuth of the old school. He relies on nobody but himself, and through a combination of logical thinking and traditional information-gathering methods unravels the mysterious homicide little step by little step.

Let’s wrap-up our selection of Thailandphile writers with Tibor Timothy Vajda, a Hungary-born Australian citizen whose very own life story could indeed provide the yarn for a different kind of book. After having been rounded up by the Nazis and sent to a forced labor camp, he escaped in 1944 and joined the anti-fascist underground. In 1956, he emigrated with his family to Australia and became a dental surgeon in 1962. Vajda eventually took to writing, but has only managed a couple of books, among them the somewhat awkwardly titled “Inspector Bourke in Sydney, Bangkok and Moscow”. His protagonist, Sydney Detective Inspector Frank ‘Ironman’ Bourke is on the tail of an international gem smuggling-in-exchange-for-heroin case that spans the three locations of the title. Alas, he introduces so many other characters in an overly complex story with such a myriad of twists and turns that ‘Ironman’ practically drowns. Although the Bangkok chapters are carefully researched, Vajda obviously lacks the understanding of local culture in which his Thailand-based fellow authors so comfortably excel.

Thailand in Hollywood Movies

But what about the motion picture front? With Thailand being featured so prominently in literature these days, one might assume that also to be the case in movies. Not so. Yes, we have been enchanted by that colorful yet historically entirely inaccurate MGM musical, “The King and I” starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr in the leading roles. Perhaps we have enjoyed watching its remake featuring Jodie Foster and Chow Hyun Fat. We were probably appalled by the inconsequential and utterly pointless book adaptation of milkbeard Leonardo DiCaprio frolicking on “The Beach”. “Bangkok Dangerous” may have been exciting and brought us scruffy-looking hitman Nicolas Cage on the prowl in the gritty streets of Bangkok. But all these flicks don’t fall into the scope covered in this article. Worth mentioning with reservations is the 1973 “The Man with the Golden Arm”, in which super-heroic secret agent James Bond (Roger Moore) blatantly steals a car from a show room without having to fear any criminal charges to be laid against him. He subsequently roars his illegally acquired vehicle down Bangkok’s practically deserted Rama IV Road (fat chance, even in the 70s!) before performing a salto mortale with it across a broken khlong bridge, one of the most amazing stunts ever captured on celluloid. In the end, the movie doesn’t count, though.

Virtually the lone silver screen spectacle that truly fits our topic is “Brokedown Palace”, which was released in 1999 and starred Bill Pullman, Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale. Unfortunately, the storyline was as far fetched as it was implausible. School friends Danes and Beckinsale decide to spend their summer vacation in ‘The Big Mango’; of course on a shoestring budget that would embarrass even the most frugal backpacker. Under circumstances that are best described as “pulled by the hair” they soon make the acquaintance of a young, charming Australian. The rather predictable script eventually puts our two exceptionally naïve travelers at the airport where they are promptly caught with a package concealed in their rucksack. It contains heroin. The only way for them to avoid a life-long prison sentence is to hire the dubious services of a disheveled American Lawyer (Pullman) who is obviously more interested in cashing in on his clients’ predicament than in really helping them. When we hear Pullman arguing the case in court in horribly garbled Thai that even the most local language-impaired expat would easily recognize as nothing short of unintelligible, we are not surprised at all that the two girls are found guilty. Pullman admits his inadequacy as a defense lawyer and waives his payment, but now the girls’ only hope lies in a royal pardon. In a final, perplexing twist, Danes insists on shouldering two consecutive life sentences if only Beckinsale would be set free, a trade to which the king’s representative agrees for a reason that eludes the audience. Fade out.

American author Timothy Hallinan, meanwhile, is under the wings of a major New York publisher. His private eye is an investigative journalist by the name of Philip ‘Poke Rafferty and has featured in a series of novels. Hallinan’s books “A Nail Through the Heart”, “The Fourth Watcher” and “Breathing Water” have all received warm reviews in the United States and gained him a solid following among crime fictionaficionados. The author spends some 6 months each year in Southeast Asia and thus knows the ins and outs well, which is reflected in his meticulously researched novels.

American expat Jake Needham has shelled out four contemporary crime novels since the year 2000, but only two of them feature a recurring protagonist in the form of financial lawyer-turned-hobby detective Jack Sheperd. In “The Laundry Man” (originally published under the title “Tea Money”), Sheperd is sucked into a thrilling money scam that involves an Asian bank whose identity remains obscure throughout the pages. During the course of the story, Sheperd is approached by an old “colleague” who not only wants him to locate the missing funds but actually steal them back. Sheperd surfaces once again in “Killing Plato”. Mostly set in Phuket for a change, the narrative follows Sheperd in his wild pursuit of the world’s most wanted fugitive; not Thaksin Shinawatra, but a bloke called Plato Karsarkis (if I may be permitted this little tongue-in-cheek remark). The author’s very first bestselling novel, “The Big Mango”, had another fictitious ex-lawyer, Eddie Dare, embark on a mission that starts off in New York and via San Francisco concludes in Bangkok in an attempt to recover a stash of $400 million that decades earlier were slipped out of the Bank of Vietnam by the CIA. In “The Ambassador’s Wife” Thailand does not feature prominently except for a few chapters. The main action takes place in Singapore where Inspector Tay, a man of many boring habits and with an uninspired life, tries to solve the horrid murder of, well, the title character. Needham’s mastery of writing particularly shines in this volume as he is able to captivate his readers from the first page to the last despite the fact that Inspector Tay is anything but a daredevil.

“Skytrain to Murder” by another Bangkok Old Hand, Dean Barrett, introduced insatiable crime fiction addicts to Scott Sterling, an ex-CIA agent who lives in a small apartment above a seedy bar and – when he doesn’t give scuba diving lessons – moonlights as a private investigator. He suspects little when he meets a young woman in the joint downstairs; certainly not that he would be soon investigating her murder, with his own girlfriend being the prime suspect! Barrett’s in-depth knowledge of local culture clearly shows as he sends his character on the chase. Barrett is honest (or conscious?) enough to highlight the beautiful as well as the ugly sides of Thailand, offering his readers a lot of insight. Sterling, meanwhile, truly is a sleuth of the old school. He relies on nobody but himself, and through a combination of logical thinking and traditional information-gathering methods unravels the mysterious homicide little step by little step.

Let’s wrap-up our selection of Thailandphile writers with Tibor Timothy Vajda, a Hungary-born Australian citizen whose very own life story could indeed provide the yarn for a different kind of book. After having been rounded up by the Nazis and sent to a forced labor camp, he escaped in 1944 and joined the anti-fascist underground. In 1956, he emigrated with his family to Australia and became a dental surgeon in 1962. Vajda eventually took to writing, but has only managed a couple of books, among them the somewhat awkwardly titled “Inspector Bourke in Sydney, Bangkok and Moscow”. His protagonist, Sydney Detective Inspector Frank ‘Ironman’ Bourke is on the tail of an international gem smuggling-in-exchange-for-heroin case that spans the three locations of the title. Alas, he introduces so many other characters in an overly complex story with such a myriad of twists and turns that ‘Ironman’ practically drowns. Although the Bangkok chapters are carefully researched, Vajda obviously lacks the understanding of local culture in which his Thailand-based fellow authors so comfortably excel.

Thailand in Hollywood Movies

But what about the motion picture front? With Thailand being featured so prominently in literature these days, one might assume that also to be the case in movies. Not so. Yes, we have been enchanted by that colorful yet historically entirely inaccurate MGM musical, “The King and I” starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr in the leading roles. Perhaps we have enjoyed watching its remake featuring Jodie Foster and Chow Hyun Fat. We were probably appalled by the inconsequential and utterly pointless book adaptation of milkbeard Leonardo DiCaprio frolicking on “The Beach”. “Bangkok Dangerous” may have been exciting and brought us scruffy-looking hitman Nicolas Cage on the prowl in the gritty streets of Bangkok. But all these flicks don’t fall into the scope covered in this article. Worth mentioning with reservations is the 1973 “The Man with the Golden Arm”, in which super-heroic secret agent James Bond (Roger Moore) blatantly steals a car from a show room without having to fear any criminal charges to be laid against him. He subsequently roars his illegally acquired vehicle down Bangkok’s practically deserted Rama IV Road (fat chance, even in the 70s!) before performing a salto mortale with it across a broken khlong bridge, one of the most amazing stunts ever captured on celluloid. In the end, the movie doesn’t count, though.

Virtually the lone silver screen spectacle that truly fits our topic is “Brokedown Palace”, which was released in 1999 and starred Bill Pullman, Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale. Unfortunately, the storyline was as far fetched as it was implausible. School friends Danes and Beckinsale decide to spend their summer vacation in ‘The Big Mango’; of course on a shoestring budget that would embarrass even the most frugal backpacker. Under circumstances that are best described as “pulled by the hair” they soon make the acquaintance of a young, charming Australian. The rather predictable script eventually puts our two exceptionally naïve travelers at the airport where they are promptly caught with a package concealed in their rucksack. It contains heroin. The only way for them to avoid a life-long prison sentence is to hire the dubious services of a disheveled American Lawyer (Pullman) who is obviously more interested in cashing in on his clients’ predicament than in really helping them. When we hear Pullman arguing the case in court in horribly garbled Thai that even the most local language-impaired expat would easily recognize as nothing short of unintelligible, we are not surprised at all that the two girls are found guilty. Pullman admits his inadequacy as a defense lawyer and waives his payment, but now the girls’ only hope lies in a royal pardon. In a final, perplexing twist, Danes insists on shouldering two consecutive life sentences if only Beckinsale would be set free, a trade to which the king’s representative agrees for a reason that eludes the audience. Fade out.

But perhaps not all is yet lost. Last year, Christopher G. Moore sold a film option to his Vincent Calvino series to a joint venture that includes the production company of Hollywood A-list actor Keanu Reeves and Boston-based film financier Steve Samuels. “The idea is to do something along the lines of ‘The Bourne Identity’ franchise,” the author explained. Even John Burdett’s “Bangkok 8” has been optioned by yet another Hollywood company, Millennium Films, a couple of years ago. But IMDb (Internet Movie Database), the Internet’s most reliable and up-to-date resource for anything concerning motion pictures, still lists the project as “in development”. Meanwhile, the movie rights to Jake Needham’s “The Big Mango” have likewise been bought. Needham himself even related in an article published in the Bangkok Post a considerable time ago how he met up with actor James Gandolfini on the set of “The Sopranos”. Gandolfini had apparently expressed interest in taking on the lead role of Eddie Dare. Unfortunately, no further progress on the project has been reported and it must be in serious doubt that the script (let alone the movie) will ever get finished.

A Real-Life Vincent Calvino?

The exciting lives of foreigners pursuing careers as private detectives or lawyers in Thailand. How probable is it, actually, to be defended in court by a Thai-mumbling Bill Pullman or encounter a gun-wielding, real-life Vincent Calvino on a case in Bangkok’s redlight milieu? Not very, according to Joe Leeds of Chaninat & Leeds, a prominent law firm in the Thai capital. Thailand’s Foreign Business Act clearly stipulates that individuals must have Thai nationality if they intend to engage in these businesses, unless they have a special permit, of course. Obtaining that license is very difficult and invariably requires the foreigner to be sponsored by Thai partners in order to form a company in these fields. It would be categorically illegal for a single individual to operate without a proper company. So much for the lone foreign sleuth depicted in Thailand-based crime fiction.

This is not to say that such companies do not exist at all, as proven by Chaninat & Leeds, a Thailand law firm that handles litigation as well as employs Thailand investigators of all sorts. However, a foreigner actively arguing a case in a Thai court is an extremely unlikely scenario. “Foreign lawyers with the proper authorization from the Thai government are legally entitled to act as a liaison between foreign clients and Thai lawyers and advise Thai lawyers on implications concerning foreign law. If the foreign lawyers are authorized as law firm managers they can have an even broader scope of permitted work activities. They also may appear as expert witnesses and arbitrators concerning foreign law when so authorized,” elaborates Joe Leeds, the manager of Chaninat & Leeds.

That leaves the Calvinos and Sterlings, but Leeds, a licensed US attorney fluent in the Thai language, can provide an exhaustive answer there, too. “Normally investigations, whether conducted through foreign governments, foreign police agencies, or by private foreign individuals in Thailand, must be coordinated with participation by Thai police officials or other investigative bodies authorized to act under Thai law for both legal and practical reasons.” While Thailand boasts several private detective agencies operated by foreigners the possibility of them investigating a high-profile murder case on their own accord is unlikely. What these kind of “expat” agencies primarily engage in are lengthy stake-outs of bar girls whose money-contributing, foreign “boyfriends” have developed doubts as to whether their “girlfriends” are indeed as faithful to them as they claim to be. “There was one legendary foreign ‘investigator’,” muses Leeds, “who reportedly would charge boyfriends residing abroad $100 to go to the bar where their bargirl girlfriend was working and offer money for sex.  It was a test of the girlfriend’s faithfulness. The ‘investigator’ would then report back.  No refunds were given if sex was successfully obtained.”

However, more established investigative agencies using more sophisticated techniques and handling more high-level cases do exist however, according to Leeds.  “We get a great many inquiries concerning locating missing persons, gathering evidence in support of lawsuits, and uncovering insurance fraud.  Insurance companies often request that we investigate bogus death claims and disability claims.  We had a 3 week stake-out in Pattaya of a foreign nationality claiming a serious back disability and receiving disability insurance benefits. We were able to obtain video of him lifting 20-kilo bags of potting soil and doing vigorous work in his garden, thereby satisfying the insurance company,” recalls Leeds.  He also remembers another hilarious case: “We had one family concerned that their elderly, partially blind uncle, who had been depressed, had disappeared in Thailand.  It turned out he was a closet gay person. He was actually having a wild time in a notorious gay hotel in Phuket drinking and carousing almost every night.”  But most of the firm’s cases are quite serious; infidelity investigation and missing persons are the bread and butter work for most investigators.

Whatever the situation, a foreign private eye working without Thai partners and maintaining considerable local contacts is doomed to having a very tough time. “A foreigner asking prying questions, engaging in surveillance or other investigative activities would be very suspicious and would likely get reported to authorities. Good foreign investigators need Thai counterparts and agents and should have a great deal of knowledge of the Thai system, language and culture,” states Leeds, shattering the dreams of wannabes that without doubt must be out there somewhere in the wide, wide world, already contemplating a new life under palm trees. In this respect, John Burdett’s character Sonchai Jitpleecheep finds himself in a lucky position, indeed. As a Thai national and member of the local police force he can wallow in his cases at heart’s pleasure.

Calvino, on the other hand, enjoys the protection and support of the man whose life he once saved. The colonel even helped him procure a hand gun which, his buddy repeatedly warns, he must always keep concealed and never pull out in public; a warning that Calvino unfortunately disregards on occasion, of course. Thailand’s gun control laws are extraordinarily strict. Still, many Thais and – it is rumored – even some foreigners manage to acquire unregistered, thus illegal, hand guns or rifles through murky channels. While it is not entirely impossible for a foreigner to legally own a gun under certain circumstances, the process of legally obtaining one is arduous and subject to close scrutinizing by the authorities in charge. It is needless to say that 99.99 per cent of all such applications are rejected. “Thai nationality is normally a requirement to obtain a gun license. There are certain informal exceptions made for various foreign law enforcement agencies such as the FBI or DEA whose agents operate in Thailand. However, these would be cases where the law is not enforced, rather than exceptions to the law,” explains Leeds. Lucky Calvino, to have such a trusted and faithful friend!

With crime fiction centered on Thailand still being in its advent, avid crime novel fans certainly can look forward to more writers (and film makers) letting their very own private eye characters ramble, chase and sleuth their way through scoundrel-infested neighborhoods in the Land of Smiles. After all, the country really does provide the perfect setting – and a most attractive, exotic one at that. Meanwhile we all should be glad to have at hand such a talented and wonderfully creative phalanx as Moore, Burdett, Barrett and Needham. That shall do for the moment.

by Thomas Schmid, Bangkok