Spirit House: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel

Vincent Calvino #1

by Christopher G. Moore

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.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Asia, Audiobook, Detective, Crime, Novels

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Christopher G. Moore is a Canadian author who has lived in Thailand since 1988. Formerly a law professor at the University of British Columbia and a practicing lawyer, Moore has become a public figure in Southeast Asia, known for his novels and essays that have captured the spirit and social transformation of Southeast Asia over the past three decades.

Moore has written over 30 fiction and non-fiction books, including the Vincent Calvino novels which have won including the Shamus Award and German Critics Award and have been translated to over a dozen languages. Moore’s books and essays are a study of human nature, culture, power, justice, technological change and its implications on society and human rights.

Starting in 2017, the London-based Christopher G. Moore Foundation awards an annual literary prize to books advancing awareness on human rights. He’s also the founder of Changing Climate, Changing Lives Film Festival 2020.

Reviews

[James Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great first chapter leads us into a Calvino canon that has been running for many years. Moore hardly puts a foot wrong here. The prose is economical, each event needs to occur in order for the entire book to stand on her legs and walk. Walk she does. Beautifully. While a few writers have carried the torch of Bangkok noir fiction for brief snatches of time, Moore has proved time and time again that his is the light that they are following. After many years this book and others of Moore's have found new readers in the west. Thanks to late and great wisdom of Barney Rosset, and his ground-breaking Grove Press, this volume is finding a new audience.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Calvino plunges in when a farang dies and the Bangkok police have a confession that he doesn't believe. The city can be dangerous.

[Dufourmentel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe the reader should understand a few things about the author.
It does not matter whether he is Canadian or of another nationality.
He has been living in Thailand for so long that he is soaked in it.

We expatriates are well aware that our host country,
"Thailand, has changed a lot."
I am a member of the "Pattaya Expats Club" and Moore had come to give a conference I attended.
It was the first sentence of his speech.
His introduction.
I, who have lived in the land of smiles for 13 years, have never been to Thailand, where the famous detective Calvino works.
That was if I refer to the publication of the book in 1992, 28 years ago.
I found back our host country with its superstitions, legends, ghosts, idols and even dirt etc... multiplied by 2 or even 3

Beware however of a certain vocabulary like
"ying"(female) that only we expatriates or people used to listening to Thai people know.
Finally, I will finish by saying that I am French,
and that reading in English is not easy for us who study the language of universal communication.
All this to say that despite the difficulties, I didn't feel like
finishing my reading assignment for a minute
.
Thank you author, I enjoyed Thailand at other times.
I learned a lot from the country where I live.
Moore is a very talented writer,
and I haven't finished reading about the adventures of his detective Calvino.

Shortly speaking, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Spirit house smells the strange and dangerous Thailand (especially at that time).

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, the narrator was wonderful. He had so many accents due to the variety of male and female international characters in this book, plus using his voice alone I was able to know who was talking. At times, the narrator was what kept me listening to this audio book. I first thought I was getting a story by Christopher Moore, just curious about the G. Otherwise I never would have bought this book. But I'm glad I did because there was so much I enjoyed about this story.

Expats in Bangkok, Thai criminal underworld, drugs, murder, subterfuge and a view of people living in abject poverty. The reader is fed bits and pieces, trying to solve the mystery of foreigners being murdered as well as the sub-culture in Bangkok. It was okay to murder Thais and foreigners, except never murder a Japanese person because of the financial ties between Thailand and Japan.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: PI Vincent Calvino
SETTING: Bangkok
SERIES: #1 if 14
RATING: 4.0
WHY: It's nothing out of the ordinary for a farang (Caucasian) to be killed in Bangkok. But it is unusual for the killer to confess the next day. PI Vincent Calvino doesn't believe that a young paint-thinner addict has murdered Ben Hoadly, an expat Brit. Joining forces with his best friend, Pratt, a Thai police colonel, and a friend/lover naked Kiko, Calvino plunges into the dangerous world of Bangkok. Moore does an exceptional job of painting this setting with all of its lowlife characters and abysmal poverty. A very assured first in a series that I'll be following.

[Stewart Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of a number of books by this author (not to be confused with the other Christopher Moore who writes humerous fantasies, although his books are great), in which the protagonist is Vincent Calvino, a disbarred lawyer who works as a PI in Bangkok. If you like this one you are in luck as there are 15 or 16 more. I have a copy of this book which I will loan you. The library has some others, otherwise Kindle is the way to go.

[Andrea Irvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book that a friend left to me. It takes place in Bangkok and there was something about knowing the places in the novel that enhanced it for me. Great characters and lots of elements of Thai culture that rang true, and plenty of plot twists. This Asian edition of the book needed some additional editing and copy editing, but I assume that got taken care of in later editions. Overall a fun read, especially for people who know Bangkok.

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good but strange novel with great atmosphere and an interesting lead. Set in Thailand in the 1990s, a down on his luck, lawyer becomes a private eye and gets involved in over his head with a case involving drug smuggling, a crooked cop, crooked British brokers, and Burmese drug dealers. A lot of good cultural tidbits about Thailand and the Buddhist culture. Vivid settings. Wrapped up a little too quickly at the end for me. But a compelling read. Recommended.

[Barbara]

Don't know if I'll make it through this one because it's set in Bangkok and the author brings in lots of stuff about the sex trade there as background and I'm getting grossed out...on the other hand, it's an interesting mystery and I want to see what happens...OK, I gave up. The grossed-out part beat out the wanting-to-see-what-happens part.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expat disbarred lawyer works as a p.i. in Bangkok. He navigates through layers of intrigue in the labyrinth of Thai society trying to find who killed an English businessman. From bars to squash court he pursues his quest. Vinnie Calvino is a like able character with problems but a decent streak. He has respect for Thai culture even if it trips him up. Realistic characters make a good yarn.

[Kay Skopitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, I couldn't actually finish this book. Tough guy PI (of course, he's *from* Brooklyn, and a disbarred lawyer to boot)in Thailand. Usually, I love this kind of macho exercise, but this novel never really came together for me. The POV changes without warning and without reason. Eh.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Vincent Calvino novel seems quite a bit more violent and graphic than those that followed. At least it seems so among those I've so far read. No doubt this grabbed attention when it first came out, because Calvino expresses so much of not only what the typical noir detective demonstrates in almost all the classic works in the genre, but he does so while taking the action to an exotic location, Bangkok. A place with precisely the reputation for taking life cheaply and making everything available for the right price. It's a Bangkok, however, which largely doesn't exist anymore. Even the barflies who populate the story are almost a thing of the past, having died off or, more likely, sent to alternate nearby countries when Thailand tightened up its immigration rules, making the 90 day visa runs a thing of the past for those using them to stay permanently. (Nowadays, you have play by the rules, keep money in the bank or go through an immigration agent.)

This Bangkok of Calvino's, however, is nicely situated in a pre internet, pre digital age. People still rely on printed copies of newspapers. The only thing intruding on the older noir formula is the ever present cell phones. And they're not enough to lasso Moore's typical complex, even convoluted, plot. Establishing control and bringing "justice" about has to be done the old way. That means Calvino taking physical chances, confronting criminals with their own lies, and fighting off the temptation to turn into a Bangkok derelict himself. The latter is the easiest thing to do, because Calvino lives in a sort of liminal state between respectable thoughts and weakening in the face of prostitutes, easy money, or, worse, just resigning from it all and living day by day in Lotus Land.

[Ed Teja · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading a review of the latest book in this series, I was curious enough to want to read the first one. It is a hard-boiled PI story set in Bangkok. I've been there a few times over the years and the place rings true. Vincent's life is a little depressing but realistic. If you like noir and SE Asia crime, you'll probably love this book.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just not my thing. I did not care for the protagonist much. The author lives in Thailand but doesn't seem to like it very much. Although the story is interesting it bogs down in places. The reflective musings of Calvino didn't cause me to stop and think.
So... 3 stars.

[Michael D Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow starting

The novel was slow to get started. After laying the ground work the pace picked up and kept me turning the pages to the end.

[Peter Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty and great

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Timothy Hallinan, author of the Poke Rafferty series, introduced me to Thai crime fiction and Hallinan's short story in Bangkok Noir (Akashic, 2011) introduced me to Christopher G. Moore's writing. I can't believe it took me that long to discover Moore.

Spirit House is excellent, featuring private investigator Vincent Calvino. Calvino knows the nighttime, the darkness of the city. He's broken in some ways - given to drink, not able to love. But Calvino's observant and smart, with a sense of justice and a brute determination not to give up on a case that makes him "a thinking man's Phillip Marlowe," says The Daily Yomiuri (Japan).

The opening pages are exquisite: "D.O.A. Bangkok" read the blood-red neon sign. Around midnight the sky was a grayish-white mask with slits for a few stars. D.O.A. Bangkok was the only bar with huge cages of fruit bats suspended above the counter...Vincent Calvino, with a gun sloping out of his holster, walked over to the bar. Red neon whores flashed smiles, mouths filled with large teeth." It's a nightmare of all you imagine Bangkok not to be, and it's all here in the 291 pages of Moore's first mystery.

There's twelve of Moore's Vincent Calvino mysteries; read them in order if you can and then read the rest of his crime fiction, also set in Thailand.

--Ashland Mystery

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest I bought this book thinking it was by Christopher Moore and not Christopher G. Moore...Yes I should pay more attention to these details. In the end I was happy enough as Moore writes like Raymond Chandler crossed with Elmore Leonard. He sets his story in Thailand which makes a nice change from the mean streets of New York or Los Angeles as many cop turned private detective books are frequently based in these two familiar urban environments.

Moore's hero, Vinee Calvino is in the best tradition of flawed good guys who have made bad decisions in the past and have dubious vices in the present but he tries to make up for it and while not exactly coming out smelling of roses does end up with the girl and lives to fight another day.

So, slightly formulaic in the style of these books and frequently graphic in it's description of violence to women, it's a quick read - by the pool or on the plane etc. - and the only drawback for me was the unecessary crudeness of language right at the end of the story. I'd read another and have his latest to go to - also bought by mistake at the same time! Doh!

[Missmath144 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my second Vince Calvino book. I just couldn't get into it. His writing confuses me at times. I don't know if it's a lack of continuity, a failure to make clear what the antecedents are for his pronouns, or just my ignorance, but I find it difficult to follow in places. I just slogged through it, hoping the ending would make up for it (but it didn't).

[Farhan Saya · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good story, but the style of writing was a little confusing. However, knowing that the series has reached fifteen books, the writing style must have improved in the future books.

If you are a fan of John Burdett Bangkok series, do give CGM's Vincent Calvino series a try. It is a more grittier version of Burdett's Bangkok.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy mysteries that are set in Thailand for some reason. This is definitely more of a hard-boiled, noir-type mystery than an atmospheric, surreal kind of mystery. I liked meeting the characters, and enjoyed the ending.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great suspenseful read & definitely recommended!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this book highly recomend love stories of bangkok

[Mark O'Leary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to enjoy this book, but I simply could not bring myself to care about any of the characters. I quit less than halfway through.