Bangkok Noir

Bangkok Noir (2011) was the first of this series of hard-boiled stories set in a particular location. But for some reason I had started withe the second volume set in Phnom Penh, which includes many of the same author from this initial volume. It was uneven, but generally speaking I enjoyed most of them. Some of the standouts for me were: "Gone East"-Johne Burdett, "Inspector Zang and the Dead"-Stephen Leather, "The MIstress Wants Her Freedom"-Tew Bunnag, "Hansum Man"-Timothy Hallman, "Death of a Legend"-Dean Barett, "The Lunch That Got Away"-Eric Stone, and "Hot Enough to Kill"-Collin Diprell. Oneo fthe more bizarre stories, ""Dolphins Inc." by Christopher G. Moore (also the editor of this volume as well as the Phnom Penh one), features the Dolphins of Taiji, Wakayama as main characters. II read this after a trip to Bangkok, and it does provide lots of local color and background information about Bangkok, in particular, and Thailand, in general. So I recommend it as background reading for a trip there.