Thai Died (Stud Draqual Mystery Series)

Rating:
Summary: A DESTINED-TO-BE CLASSIC OF ITS GENRE!
Review: 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.