Crime Scene Asia: Crime fiction from India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam

by Richard Lord

Volume 1 of Crime Scene Asia features nine delectably horrid crimes that take readers on a chilling trip through the dark underbelly of contemporary Asia. This volume serves up the unique flavor of crime in six of Asia's most dynamic and fascinating lands, written by nine seasoned crime writers based throughout the region. The pieces in this crime anthology may be fiction, but they read like the more attention-grabbing stories seen frequently in newspapers across Asia.

Genres: Crime

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lena Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

CONTENTS
Introduction by the editor, Richard A. Lore
1. Thailand: You Get What You Pay For by Elka Ray
2. Thailand: Lord Tony's Deal by Roger Vickery
3. Thailand: Wet Nightmares by Jim Algie
4. Singapore: November Rain by D. Biswas
5. Singapore: Road Kill by Richard Lore
6. Malaysia: The Cat City Caper by Dawn Farnham
7. Philippines: On A Wet Day You Can Live Forever by Charlson Ong
8. India: The Case of The Too Many Fingerprints by Abha Iyengar
9. Vietnam: The Hanoi Sword Swindle by William L. Gibson

In summary, the types of crime in this book covers spouse murder, drug, sophisticated thievery, underground thugs battle, sex crime featuring prostitute as the protagonist, conventional detective murder case and unconventional detective murder case. Go ahead and turn the pages to find out the details for yourself. I would also recommend reading the introduction part because it lays down the expectations and provides an outline of the book.

I myself couldn't agree more with the editor's introduction, that there is indeed a vast variety of writing styles, themes and storylines.

"...cover a wide multitude of crimes, as well as a broad range of literary styles, characters and milieus."

Before reading, I've checked the reviews of this book and I noticed in the reviews written under the ebook version, there are readers who commented on the varying quality of the stories, but I think it's the different writing styles that makes the book hard to read, rather than the difference in writing quality.

Once I'm through with the book, I came to appreciate and to enjoy the different writing styles, except for erotic romance genre ones. It does feel a little overwhelming and intensive, as if a semester worth of creative writing course crammed into one book.

Unfortunately there are a few shortcomings in the first book which I hope the future books in this series would address.

Firstly, there are references to local terminologies and slangs without explanatory notes.

Secondly, 8 out of the 9 short stories featured are set in South East Asian countries when the book title promised Asia continent. The lack of exposure to other Asian countries like China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan has no doubt caused some dissatisfaction in me.

Thirdly I was hoping to see more local writers contributing to the collection rather than expatriates who had experience living in these Asian countries.

Lastly, I was bothered by many double sided blank pages within the book. I understand that ideally, in short stories collection, the book would want to start each story on an odd page but if the previous story ends on page 154, I don't see any reason to start on 157 with one blank piece of paper wasted. Why can't the story start on page 155? There are so many blank pages like this throughout the book.

I do hope the publisher and editor can consider these constructive feedbacks and make improvements to the subsequent books in this series.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting collection of stories although I had thought it was an collection of actual crimes committed around Asia. I think the writing here is good and reflective of the different cultures and countries that the stories are set in, although the quality of stories were somewhat varied. Some were definitely engaging while others was found lacking. Overall, an interesting read.

[Alison C · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Crime Scene Asia, Volume 1" is a very odd collection of short stories set in various Asian countries, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, India, Thailand and Vietnam. The authors all appear to be non-Asian (judging by their names) who happen to be living in one of those countries and who write crime fiction in general. There are nine stories altogether, including one by the editor, and of course a given reader will prefer certain stories over others. I liked “Lord Tony’s Deal” by Roger Vickery and “The Cat City Caper” by Dawn Farnham, although none of the stories completely wowed me. I would point out that this volume is definitely not for everyone; many of the stories use extremely strong language and depict horrendous sexual brutality in great scatological detail, so be warned.

[Lupa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting proposal to give the stories an "Asia" approach...

It is not pretencious reading. Some, in fact, are very naive, but the reading very atractive because place the stories in location such as Vietnam, Philipines, Singapure, etc.

I would prefer if some of the authors were locals.

I liked specially references at the end of each storie that help me to choose my next reading.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting mix of short stories by a bunch of authors unfamiliar to me. The quality does vary a great deal but the first and last stories are by far the highlights and I'll be keeping an eye out for other works by Elka Ray and William L Gibson.
This is a great concept for a series, hopefully there will be another volume or two.