Murder at the Horny Toad Bar: & Other Outrageous Tales of Thailand

by Dean Barrett

Among several exotic and erotic tales of Thailand, readers are introduced to Bangkok's sexiest, most daring and least principled detective, Harry Boroditsky, who solves not one but two bizarre cases including, Murder at the Horny Toad Bar. Hard Bones Haggerty makes his appearance in a haunting tale of the Vietnam War, and, in Obsession, a man obsessed with his Thai girlfriend seeks revenge. In the non-fiction section of the book, the author writes of searching Bangkok for his Vietnam War-era barracks; he describes his encounters with the Khmer Rouge in western Thailand including a meeting with a beautiful Cambodian woman searching a refugee camp for her mother, and his need to flee a Vietnamese Army; and what happens when a traveler boards the wrong train in southern Thailand.In the section, "Memoirs of an Oversexed Farang," the author writes of his several decades of encounters with the often enigmatic but, always lovely, ladies of Thailand.

245 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

Dean Barrett first arrived in Asia as a Chinese linguist with the American Army Security Agency. While living in New York, Dean was a member of Dramatists Guild, a board member of Mystery Writers of America and a librettist/lyricist with BMI. He lived in Hong Kong for 17 years where he was managing director of Hong Kong Publishing Company Ltd. Dean has written several books on China and Thailand. His musical, Fragrant Harbour, set in 1857 Hong Kong, was selected by the National Alliance for Musical Theater to be shown to producers and directors on 42nd Street, NYC. His play, Bones of the Chinamen, set in Swatow (Shantou) in 1862, won the South Asian prize of the BBC International Playwriting Competition, coming in among the top 8 selected out of 1200 entries. Dean specializes in writing on the late Qing period of Chinese history and now lives in Asia. He has written two novels set in Hong Kong in 1857: Hangman's Point and Thieves Hamlet. His latest novel on China is A LOVE STORY: THE CHINA MEMOIRS OF THOMAS ROWLEY, a romantic and erotic work set in the 1800's. POP DARRELL'S LAST CASE, a detective novel, was published in 2014.

Reviews

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly entertaining resume of an expat life in Thailand

[David Frazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some truly hilarious bits in this collection of Bangkok short stories, as well as some penultimate examples of Bangkok noir.

[Doug Frizzle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this collection of short stories a number of years ago. They are great! Every now and then when I have a spare moment I bring it out to fill in time.
The stories are based around girls, drinking and bars in Thailand. "outrageous tales of Thailand".

[Prctaxman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three novellas. While the final one, I felt, was the most poorly conceived and written, nonetheless, it was the best of the three vis a vis being a page turner....you figure it!!