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Stud Draqual Mystery #2
Thai Died
This second title in a new gay mystery series is a fast-paced tale that melds mystery and erotica. When a lingerie manufacturer goes to Thailand on business, he gets far more than he bargained for. While innocently shopping for silk and taking in the sights of Bangkok, Stud Draqual finds himself being stalked by a mercenary — one who’s been implicated in the murder of a male prostitute.
260 pages, Paperback
First published January 24, 2003
10 people want to read
About the author
William Maltese
154 books20 followersPseudonym of William J. Lambert III.
I've been in the business of writing books for a very long time, and I derive particular enjoyment from visiting different places and then trying to relay the "essence" of those places to my readers. Likewise, I'm very adventuresome regarding trying new things, whether it be exotic and strange foods and/or other more personal "things".
I've been in the business of writing books for a very long time, and I derive particular enjoyment from visiting different places and then trying to relay the "essence" of those places to my readers. Likewise, I'm very adventuresome regarding trying new things, whether it be exotic and strange foods and/or other more personal "things".
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 2, 2016
Another from the vaults. I think I must have mentioned to an editor how much I admired Joseph Hansen’s mystery novels, so of course I got assigned to review this one… which bears no remote resemblance to Hansen’s work. (Was it for Lambda or Out or The Advocate? And will I never learn to keep my mouth shut?) “Thai Died” was the second novel by William Maltese to feature his Stud Draqual character, underwear couturier and amateur sleuth. At the merest perusal, pornographic paperbacks disguised as spy novels (once a staple of kiosks that catered to adolescents) leap to mind. So do comic books. Bad ones. There’s a reason for this, something of a tradition in fact.
Over the course of a couple of weeks in the late 1940s, Mickey Spillane churned out the first in a series of potboilers about a character developed from his Mike Danger comics. This “new” hero, name changed to Mike Hammer, waved the flag at every opportunity, slaughtered commies and dark-skinned thugs with glee, and always bagged the babe, frequently just before shooting her. Socially regressive, even for the 1950s, these novelettes exploited a market in need of a product. Bored military personnel had discovered comic books in a big way, but ex-servicemen were embarrassed to be seen buying them, much less reading them. Paperbacks like these at least resembled actual books. Plus there was all that subtext: the misogyny of the plots reflected (and distorted) postwar gender tensions. Having gotten a taste of independence, a lot of erstwhile homemakers had proved reluctant to relinquish their jobs to the returning GIs, and from then on females in “men’s fiction” inevitably turned out to be treacherous, even perverse. It's possible American culture has never fully recovered.
Were these really mystery novels? Though nominally a gumshoe, Hammer displayed no relationship with soulful loners like Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op. There was no hint of individualistic ethics, no outsider perspective. And what does any of this have to do with gay fiction? With its pervasive focus on unconventional heroes – characters who seemed to have no real connection to the prevailing society – the mystery/detective genre has always exerted a powerful attraction for gay readers (and writers). And so we come to this hot mess.
“Thai Died” is narrated in a style long considered mandatory for private dicks, a sort of unrelentingly facetious colloquialism, and the appeal for a lazy author is immediately apparent... since the fruity-tough-guy tone eliminates any need for well-wrought descriptive passages or believable dialogue. The male characters pretty much all have “handsome faces” and “hard bodies,” though an unlucky few are merely “ruggedly good-looking.” (Bored yet?) On the other hand, the text does strive to be colorful. In spasms. The book is set in Bangkok, and Thai characters are depicted as exotic in the most offensive sense: barbaric, corrupt, indistinguishable. Spillane would have approved. The plot turns out to involve something about stolen antiquities. Things explode, shots get fired, throats get slashed, masked assassins creep up behind the hero, who dispatches them with karate chops, and Asian callboys keep popping up in his bed.
It’s the kind of novel you just want to chuck in a wastepaper basket after a few pages. So why am I still going on about it? And why does it obviously annoy me so much? Hear me out.
There’s an aspect.
Despite all the throbbing members and devious cross-dressers, despite even the fashion industry background, Stud is not a gay character, though he does sometimes fantasize about men, usually while he’s having sex with some “gorgeous dame” or other. (This is about as deep as the author’s psychological insight penetrates.) The men who continually proposition Stud, gifted as he is with a “handsome face” and a “hard body,” are just as continually rebuffed. It’s as though readers were expected to derive some sort of thrill from having this “straight” male and his permanent erection thrust into suggestive situations with other males, even though nothing sexual ever happens. (Well, a transvestite does get raped and beheaded, but Stud only watches.) Annoyed yet? Neither truly gay nor actually a mystery (unless the reader invests energy in trying to work out who the target market might have been), “Thai Died” remains decidedly D.O.A.
Must finish clearing off this bookcase…
Over the course of a couple of weeks in the late 1940s, Mickey Spillane churned out the first in a series of potboilers about a character developed from his Mike Danger comics. This “new” hero, name changed to Mike Hammer, waved the flag at every opportunity, slaughtered commies and dark-skinned thugs with glee, and always bagged the babe, frequently just before shooting her. Socially regressive, even for the 1950s, these novelettes exploited a market in need of a product. Bored military personnel had discovered comic books in a big way, but ex-servicemen were embarrassed to be seen buying them, much less reading them. Paperbacks like these at least resembled actual books. Plus there was all that subtext: the misogyny of the plots reflected (and distorted) postwar gender tensions. Having gotten a taste of independence, a lot of erstwhile homemakers had proved reluctant to relinquish their jobs to the returning GIs, and from then on females in “men’s fiction” inevitably turned out to be treacherous, even perverse. It's possible American culture has never fully recovered.
Were these really mystery novels? Though nominally a gumshoe, Hammer displayed no relationship with soulful loners like Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op. There was no hint of individualistic ethics, no outsider perspective. And what does any of this have to do with gay fiction? With its pervasive focus on unconventional heroes – characters who seemed to have no real connection to the prevailing society – the mystery/detective genre has always exerted a powerful attraction for gay readers (and writers). And so we come to this hot mess.
“Thai Died” is narrated in a style long considered mandatory for private dicks, a sort of unrelentingly facetious colloquialism, and the appeal for a lazy author is immediately apparent... since the fruity-tough-guy tone eliminates any need for well-wrought descriptive passages or believable dialogue. The male characters pretty much all have “handsome faces” and “hard bodies,” though an unlucky few are merely “ruggedly good-looking.” (Bored yet?) On the other hand, the text does strive to be colorful. In spasms. The book is set in Bangkok, and Thai characters are depicted as exotic in the most offensive sense: barbaric, corrupt, indistinguishable. Spillane would have approved. The plot turns out to involve something about stolen antiquities. Things explode, shots get fired, throats get slashed, masked assassins creep up behind the hero, who dispatches them with karate chops, and Asian callboys keep popping up in his bed.
It’s the kind of novel you just want to chuck in a wastepaper basket after a few pages. So why am I still going on about it? And why does it obviously annoy me so much? Hear me out.
There’s an aspect.
Despite all the throbbing members and devious cross-dressers, despite even the fashion industry background, Stud is not a gay character, though he does sometimes fantasize about men, usually while he’s having sex with some “gorgeous dame” or other. (This is about as deep as the author’s psychological insight penetrates.) The men who continually proposition Stud, gifted as he is with a “handsome face” and a “hard body,” are just as continually rebuffed. It’s as though readers were expected to derive some sort of thrill from having this “straight” male and his permanent erection thrust into suggestive situations with other males, even though nothing sexual ever happens. (Well, a transvestite does get raped and beheaded, but Stud only watches.) Annoyed yet? Neither truly gay nor actually a mystery (unless the reader invests energy in trying to work out who the target market might have been), “Thai Died” remains decidedly D.O.A.
Must finish clearing off this bookcase…
August 24, 2011
THAI DIED
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Green Candy Press (January 24, 2003)
Reissued as ebook: 2010 MLR Press
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 and he’ll never forgive his mother; that he is a world-traveling silk merchant who is male and absolutely gorgeous, and that he attracts danger and excitement the way a dog attracts fleas and violent death seems to follow him wherever he goes. That’s not all that follows him, as equally beautiful men and women throw themselves in his path and Stud sees no reason to refuse.
Thai Died is sexy, violent, exotic, and fascinating. It’s also funny. William Maltese, master of his craft, is the only author I know of who could write a scene in which an exotic dancer in a private BDSM club could be murdered during his act, in full view of the audience, and it would be funny. Honestly, it is. As with all of Maltese’s books which I have read, there is a lot of explicit sex. But he is such a good writer that the scenes are an integral part of the story and the action, not something thrown in to get the reader’s rocks off.
Thai Died takes place in beautiful Thailand, where, beneath the exotic beauty lies a world of crime, murder, beauty, and conspiracy. This is a short book, that has an amazing number of encounters, both deadly and erotic, in its 260 pages.
As already said, William Maltese is a master of his craft. The number of books bearing his name keeps growing and growing, as does his popularity.
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Green Candy Press (January 24, 2003)
Reissued as ebook: 2010 MLR Press
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 and he’ll never forgive his mother; that he is a world-traveling silk merchant who is male and absolutely gorgeous, and that he attracts danger and excitement the way a dog attracts fleas and violent death seems to follow him wherever he goes. That’s not all that follows him, as equally beautiful men and women throw themselves in his path and Stud sees no reason to refuse.
Thai Died is sexy, violent, exotic, and fascinating. It’s also funny. William Maltese, master of his craft, is the only author I know of who could write a scene in which an exotic dancer in a private BDSM club could be murdered during his act, in full view of the audience, and it would be funny. Honestly, it is. As with all of Maltese’s books which I have read, there is a lot of explicit sex. But he is such a good writer that the scenes are an integral part of the story and the action, not something thrown in to get the reader’s rocks off.
Thai Died takes place in beautiful Thailand, where, beneath the exotic beauty lies a world of crime, murder, beauty, and conspiracy. This is a short book, that has an amazing number of encounters, both deadly and erotic, in its 260 pages.
As already said, William Maltese is a master of his craft. The number of books bearing his name keeps growing and growing, as does his popularity.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews