Confessions of a Bangkok Pi

by Stephen Leather, Warren Olson

Two-timing bargirls, suspicious spouses and lesbian lovers - it was all in a day's work for Bangkok Private Eye Warren Olson. For more than a decade, Olson walked the mean streets of the Big Mango. Fluent in Thai and Khmer, he was able to go where other private eyes feared to tread. His clients included Westerners who had lost their hearts and life savings to moneyhungry bargirls. But he had more than his fair share of Thai clients, too, including a sweet old lady who was ripped off by a Christian conman and a Thai girl blackmailed by a former lover. The stories are based on Olson's case files, disguised to protect the innocent and the guilty by bestselling author Stephen Leather. Olson has now relocated to his native New Zealand with his Thai wife and daughter, but the agency that he founded is still open for business at www.thaiprivateeye.com.

Genres: Travel, True Crime, Asia, Fiction

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 15, 2006

About the author

Stephen Leather was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. For much of 2011 his self-published eBooks - including The Bestseller, The Basement, Once Bitten and Dreamer's Cat - dominated the UK eBook bestseller lists and sold more than half a million copies. The Basement topped the Kindle charts in the UK and the US, and in total he has sold more than two million eBooks. His bestselling book The Chinaman was filmed as The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan and grossing more than $100 million.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had to use one word to sum up this book, it would be 'lacklustre'. But that's not strictly fair as I only read the first story and attempted to read and maintain interest in the second but failed.

What is interesting in pursuing a woman and her suspected lover, catching them in the act and taking a pic for the cuckolded husband? Maybe that he is pursued by men on motorbikes for reasons that have nothing to do with the situation but no one knows anyway?

The second story was worse. I can't even remember it more than an old-lady bar girl.

I only got the book because Bangkok is my favourite city (joint, with London) and thought it would be fun to read of the culture from this angle. It wasn't.

Life's too short for stories where you can't remember the beginning when you've got to the middle.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more than a decade, the intrepid Warren Olson trawled the mean streets of Bangkok and the lesser-known corners of the Land of Smiles. His brief? To uncover unsavory truths about Thai bar-girl lovers, philandering spouses, insurance fraud and scam artists of various stripes.



Warren followed all the usual modes of his detective work in tracking a wayward wife from the airport to her hotel along with her young boyfriend. His client wanted a photo of his wife with her boyfriend in a compromising position. So armed with a new digital camera he was on their trail.
Unfortunately as he attempted to take a picture the camera's flash light up the whole street. It also illuminated some bad guys who thought he was trying to uncover their bad activities. And so a car/motorcycle chase began.


I could feel sweat trickling down my neck. Life is cheap in Bangkok. That’s not a cliche, it’s an economic truth. The going rate for a professional hit is 20,000 baht for a Thai, 50,000 if it’s a farang. But amateurs were also happy to use bullets to solve a quarrel because most murderers end up serving seven years at most, and that was in the unlikely event of them being caught. All of this was running through my mind as I drove through the streets at high speed. Along with wondering why I hadn’t chosen another profession, why I’d moved to the Land of Smiles in the first place and why I hadn’t read the manual for the camera before taking it on the job.
The best I could hope for was to run across a police patrol car but even that was no guarantee that I’d be safe. For all I knew, the four guys in hot pursuit could well be off-duty cops.



Why do young, beautiful Thai ladies happily marry old, ugly westerners? The answer is nearly always Money. He has it and she wants it. But don't get me wrong - many marriages work out as best for both partners and last for a long time.

It isn’t unusual for a pretty young Thai girl to marry an older guy. Like girls all over the Third World they want someone to take care of them and their families and there’s no doubt that a few thousand dollars in the bank can help add to a man’s attractiveness to the opposite sex.



Confrontations between the client/husband and the erring wife usually follow this kind of scene . . .

I waited at the side of the door as the client knocked, twice.
The door opened. The girl was there wearing a white T-shirt and blue denim shorts. She stared at him sleepily, then her jaw dropped as she realised who it was.
‘Darling …’ she said, but then the words dried up and her mouth open and closed silently.
‘Don’t “darling” me, you whore!’ hissed the client, and he pushed the door open. It was a studio apartment and the waiter was lying on the double bed, wrapped in a towel. The waiter leapt to his feet as the big guy strode into the room and rushed out, his bare feet slapping on the tiled floor as he bolted down the corridor.
I stayed where I was. The client had left the door open so I could hear everything that was being said. The girl began pleading that there’d been a mistake, that the waiter was just a friend, that she was only staying in the room until she could get a flight to Chiang Mai. The client let her beg and plead, then silenced her with an outburst of expletives that suggested he’d had an army career in his younger, and probably thinner, days.
‘You were a whore when I met you, and you’re a whore now!’ he shouted once he’d finished swearing. ‘I gave you everything. I gave you the clothes on your back, the watch on your wrist. I gave you money for your parents, I paid for your brothers to go to school. Anything you needed, anything you wanted, I gave to you. And you do this to me? You fuck around behind my back.’
She started to cry.
‘You’re dead to me, you bitch!’ he shouted. ‘When I get back home I’m destroying everything of yours. Every dress, every handbag, every shoe; everything I ever gave you, I’m burning. Every photograph of you, I’m destroying. You’re dead to me. I’m divorcing you and you won’t get a penny. The best lawyers in the country work for me, and if I get my way you’ll lose your Dutch citizenship.’
There was a dull thud and I took a quick look into he room just in case she’s beaten him over the head with a blunt object but she was the one on the floor, slumped down next to the bed, her hands over her face, sobbing her heart out.
He waddled over to a dressing table and grabbed her handbag. He pulled out a Dutch passport and ripped it into several places, went over to the toilet and flushed away the pieces. Then he threw the handbag into the toilet for good measure.
‘Please, darling …’ sobbed the girl.
The client sneered at her and walked out of the room, his ham-sized hands clenched into fists.

This was just one of the many private eye stories in "Confessions . . ." As we track wayward wives (and husbands) we are afforded views of the seedier side of Bangkok. The side that the average tourist family never realise is going on all around them.


Enjoy!

[Петър Стойков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Така, значи разбрахме се, че в Тайланд мацките правят секс за пари и изобщо не ги е срам от това.

Та всички тия западни туристи, дето им идват на гости толкова са свикнали сексът за пари да е нещо презряно и нечисто, че не могат да повярват, че чаровните дребнички тайландки ги чукат за 15-те долара, които те им дават. Не, тая симпатична студентка трябва наистина да ме обича, барабар с 60 годишното ми космато белгийско шкембе, поради което тя е любовта на живота ми и трябва да се оженя за нея. А дотогава ще й пращам пари, за да няма нужда да "се продава" докато я взема с мене в цивилизацията.

Така тече мисълта на изненадващо много мъже, поради което не само сексът за пари, ами и "любовта за пари" е индустрия в Тайланд. Простичко казано, мацките мотаят балъците че са им гаджета и ги карат да им пращат пари от Америка (Германия, Австралия, разбирате ме). А те си развяват поличките, въртят по 4-5 балъци по интернет и продължават да си работят древната професия с кеф, че си имат и тайландско гадже.

А авторът е холандец, който е станал частен детектив в Тайланд и основният му бизнес е да следи малките красавици дали изневеряват на чичко-паричковците зад океана, които им пращат пари. Лесен бизнес, след като отговорът на тоя въпрос винаги е "да, изневеряват им", но пък книгата съдържа няколко интересни, забавни и поучителни истории как точно.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun read, not too dark, not too heavy, but still perfectly sleazy Noir. I grew up reading mystery novels - locked door puzzles and cozies as a kid, and then hard-boiled noir mysteries as I got older. Then as I began to travel the world, I once again fell in love with the mystery genre, especially those novels set in exotic locales.

This is not a Mystery novel - rather, it is thinly fictionalized True Crime. However, there is a lot here for hard-boiled mystery fans to love. Tropical setting, simmering danger, car chases, scheming characters, and beautiful women. The cases are actually serialized, with each investigation being the length of a short story. This makes the book perfect as a traveling companion or for a quick lunchtime diversion.

This book won't change your life (unless you are desperately looking for a how-to guide on being a private eye in Phuket or Chiang Mai), but it is a very enjoyable read! It's really a four and a half star book, and I look forward to reading the sequel!

[Francesco Bifera · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING READ!!!!!! this is truly a great story through out many situations in in which encountered in Thailand from a Private Eye Detective. It is really enjoyable and wants you reading more, such a great eye opener as to what happens outside the standard tourist though of the country. I couldn't no get enough of the short stories and various situations. Great read if you have been to the country as you can get a better understanding of the descriptions, however great for all who enjoy a exciting read.

[Warren Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pleased that as intended, this book has become something of a Thailand trials and tribulations classic -
While some may doubt, I assure you every case/incident is true and basically as it happened.
Stephen Leather weaved some magic with colourful characterisatiom and great descriptions -
Some vague Movie interest .... we can but hope !
A follow up book THAI PRIVATE EYE is more about the planning and actual day to day running of my former Thai Investigation Company.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quite entertaining in parts but also quite sad as well. It was an interesting discussion of Thai bar life and tourism and also an interesting look into the psyche of middle aged male tourists. Quite repetitive in style at times but I enjoyed the insight into Thai life that was displayed in between the stories.

[Nicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, but somewhat misogynistic reading. I enjoyed the stories about investigating (mostly) cheating, lying partners and it was interesting to learn a little about Thai culture. What I didn’t enjoy was the comments about women being two baggers (as in, need two bags over their heads to be done by these charmers) and the investigator’s comments about which women he wouldn’t kick out of bed and (shudder) his own exploits with the bargirls.
Admittedly, the tourists don’t come out of it much better as being pretty much dumb old codgers being ripped off by attractive young girls (to be honest, I have very little sympathy for most of them). As for the cheating farangs (foreigners) just doing “what blokes do”.... um no.
Then there’s the charming blurb on the back of the book “definition of a Thai Bargirl: cunning as a fox with a mind like a goldfish”. Nice.
What I would actually really be up for is a book written by an ex bargirl shedding light on what really goes down. Can anyone recommend me a good one?
It’s too easy to tar every girl as out for what she can get. I get some of it is cultural, I actually feel sorry for these poor women and if they’re prepared to sleep with some old f€3t to improve their lot in life, I would say they earn every penny. The book contradicts itself constantly - on one hand all bargirls are hookers that can never change, then at the end, sure it can work out. And the author married a Thai girl (I sure hope that was after the chapters sleeping with the bargirls while doing his job). But then again, “guys doing what they do”....
I’m going with the author hasn’t got a clue about women, so therefore I take his observations about their behaviours with a grain of salt. The comments about women’ s appearance, bodies and lack of intelligence grated on me too much to rate this any higher, but it was quite interesting reading.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoping that these stories would be as fantastic and entertaining as the Bangkok 8 series, I started into this collection of short, "based on true events" stories. The trouble, of course, is that reality is rarely as odd or entertaining as fiction. After about three of the stories, the pattern becomes clear: the life of a private eye, even in Bangkok, is mostly mundane repetition. Sure, the days are filled with tracking beautiful bar girls, but they are mostly toxic to the touch, and obviously driven by one object: money. After that commonplace observation, and that so many foreign sex tourists forget it when f2f with thousands of beautiful willing babes, sets up 90% of the ensuing stories. Looks like there is a second volume of stories, but not for me.
The stories, and the 'reality' behind them, do point out that successful relationships/marriages between Thai women and foreign men are possible, though rare. My wife of 47 years is Philippina. She was never a bar girl (time to laugh a little, as that is a common line the bar girls feed the stupid foreigners). We know a lot of foreigners here in long term marriages with Philippinas. We also know lots of them who took their Asian beauties to the US and either the man or the woman ended up being totally fucked over by the other. Unrealistic expectations on both sides were the usual cause.

[Jade Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read but very repetitive. As mentioned in a review for his book Private Dancer, the editing is just bad. It reads like an unedited, self-published book. Several chapters start with the same exact lines. There's tons of repetition in descriptions. The stories are fun, but the writing is poor, to be honest.

[David A.Burris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard boiled, very funny and a little scary in the way it reveals the dark underbelly of the land of smiles. A bit too singular in his choice of stories to share... mostly all about bar-girls ripping off farangs... but still made for fascinating reading.

[Steve A Lundy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

An excellent book that's very entertaining and educational. A must read for anyone with an Asian lover be it Thailand or Philippina

[Nick Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author seems like a bit of a dick but the stories are fun to read after spending so many years in Thailand.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opening!

[Willemst · Rating 3 out of 5]

De voorpagina zegt alles over het boek wat je moet weten.

[Anwar Shimul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. Though there are repetitions of author’s viewpoints, it never gets boring. Just wondering how much JD Warren drank in his thai life :)

[Leib Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for a single day

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2007

This book needed some proofreading, because there were spelling mistakes all over the place. There was also a lot of repetition of certain things-- which may have been deliberate. Because the author wanted the reader to remember these things, he repeated them enough times so that they were emblazoned into our memories.

There were also a fair number of witty quotes throughout the book that could come in useful for everyday life.

One thing that I didn't know was the rampant corruption that seems prevalent in Thailand. (It is interesting that they have so many coups and stay so poor year after year-- in spite of having a country where the population is homogeneous and hard working.)

Some things in the book stretched the limits of credulity. For example: The author claims to have spoken Thai like a native and that the natives couldn't tell the difference between him and a native speak. Oh, and he happens to speak Laotian and the Isaan language, plus at least two others. (He may have spoken a fifth language-- "Isarn," but I can't tell if this language is not the same as "Isaan," only misspelled.)

The author also seems to have something of an ego, and it comes through in the tales in very subtle ways. ("I'm a pretty good looking guy," etc.)

Overall, this is worth the purchase price if you can get it second hand. I'm glad that I didn't pay more for it than I did.

[Rashad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may need to re-think my lax grading after reading this book, which clearly deserves 5 stars and which dwarfs other 5 star reads I've recently graded.

Stephen Leather is an expert author, given the fact he's written over 20+ novels (and the experience shows). His pacing is impeccable, and his wit not overplayed like many modern-day PI novels.

This is a collection of short stories, or cases, which may seem repetitively monotonous to some, but to lovers of Thailand and detective stories, a true joy.

Thank you for a great read.

[Warren Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pleased that as intended, this book has become something of a Thailand trials and tribulations classic -
While some may doubt, I assure you every case/incident is true and basically as it happened.
Stephen Leather weaved some magic with colourful characterisatiom and great descriptions -
Some vague Movie interest .... we can but hope !
A follow up book THAI PRIVATE EYE is more about the planning and actual day to day running of my former Thai Investigation Company.

[Aile Creed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my very favourite book from Warren Olsen - it is a very interesting and very entertaining book from his investigating days in Thailand. If you are interested to know more about Thailand's night life, how bar girls operate there, and especially if you are involved with a Thai lady, then i recommend this book very highly.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this is the book must be read by any guys who's having a long distance relationship with a Thai gf. If you wanna know what they did back there and if u r thinking about having one,you should read this book...you might be surprised of the turnout..

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book even though the nature of the author's work (PI investigations into bargirls) means that some chapters can take on a repetitive feel. Recommended to people interested in SE Asia, Thailand, crime, and the challenges of certain Asian/Western relationships.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very repetitive, but each story was entertaining. As someone who has lived in Thailand, it was very relatable and a fun read. A good cautionary tale for anyone thinking about going into business in Thailand or dating a bargirl.

[Justin Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely trashy, compulsively readable.

[Bobby_G]

Good read. The dark streets of Bangkok come alive in Warren's narrative.

[Sari Parviainen]

I think this is not so bad in case you have been in Bangkok

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit repetitive but entertaining never the less.