Category Archives: Asian noir

Fact and fiction in criminal case file 002

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Andrew Nette| 3 Comments

Ieng Sary Hearing 1

Late last week Ieng Sary aka criminal case file 002, former foreign minister for the charnel house known as the Khmer Rouge regime, died in Phnom Penh at the age of eighty seven.

One of five senior members of the Khmer Rouge being investigated by an international tribunal, Sary died denying he had any role in overseeing the death by starvation, torture and murder of approximately 1.7 million Cambodians between 1975 and early 1979.

Unfortunately, he escaped justice, dying before the tribunal could hand down its findings into his case.

Described in the charge sheet as ‘retired’, he lived peacefully in the former guerilla strong hold of Pailin until 2007, when an ageing Soviet-era chopper swooped down and police arrested and bundled him off to Phnom Penh.

For me, the news of the 87-year-old Sary’s death was very much a case of fact and fiction merging.  Sary’s defection from the Khmer Rouge in 1996 forms the historical backdrop of my crime novel set in Cambodia, Ghost Money.

Normally, I’d feel dreadful using someone’s death as an excuse to plug my book, but I’ll make an exception in Sary’s case.

I was just about to a stint as a journalist with one of the wire services in Phnom Penh, when news of Sary’s defection from the Khmer Rouge broke.… Read more

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Asian noir, Crime fiction, Crime fiction and film from Cambodia, Snubnose Press

Tagged , , , , , ,

One Ashore in Singapore kicks off Beat to a Pulp’s 2013 schedule

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Andrew Nette| 3 Comments

t9045A quick heads up that my short story, ‘One Ashore in Singapore’ is kicking off Beat to a Pulp’s 2013 fiction schedule.

For readers, particularly in Australia, who are not familiar with Beat to a Pulp, it’s one of several sites in the US that regularly feature high quality short fiction.Other’s include Plots with Guns, Shotgun Honey and Noir Nation, just to name a few.

These sites are a great way for up and comers to cut their fiction teeth and establishing writers to feature their short fiction.

I’ve been wanting to crack a story in Beat to a Pulp for a while now, and I’m thrilled to have finally made it.

As the name suggests, ‘One Ashore in Singapore’ is set on Singapore and features my ex-Australian army now professional criminal, Gary Chance. It’s a down and dirty tale of false identities, double dealings and the challenges of finding late night accommodation.

You can read the story in full here.

Enjoy.… Read more

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Asian noir, Australian crime fiction, Crime fiction and film from Singapore

Tagged , ,

This Christmas give the gift of Ghost Money

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Andrew Nette| 1 Comment

Ghost Money-1Okay, it’s been a long year and like you, as 2012 draws to a close, I’m pretty much over everything.

But before I take a few weeks break from the blog, I wanted to pull on your collective coats one more time about Ghost Money, my crime novel set in nineties Cambodia.

The folks at Snubnose Press have decided that for December only, Ghost Money, as well as all their other titles, will cost just 99 cents. That’s – literally – a steal for some seriously excellent crime fiction.

If you have bought and read Ghost Money, regardless of what you think of it, I’d love it if you could give it a review on your blog, Amazon, Goodreads or whatever.

If you haven’t got the book now there’s no excuse. And you can pick up a couple of titles why you are at it. I’m sure it would make an ideal Christmas present for the discerning noir aficionado in your life.

The book is available on Amazon here:

On Barnes & Noble for Nook readers here.

And in a multitude of formats, including e-pub, on Smashwords here.

For those of you who haven’t heard it, here is the pitch.

Cambodia, 1996, the long-running Khmer Rouge insurgency is fragmenting, competing factions of an unstable coalition government scrambling to gain the upper hand.… Read more

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Asian noir, Australian crime fiction, Australian noir, Crime fiction and film from Cambodia, Noir fiction

Writing noir fiction in Asia

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Andrew Nette| 5 Comments

Late last week in Phnom Penh a book was launched that I’m very proud to have a story in.

It’s called Phnom Penh Noir, an anthology of 14 noir stories set in Cambodia. Amongst the authors are Roland Joffe, the director whose credits include the 1984 film The Killing Fields, John Burdett, author of the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series and Christopher G Moore, who also edited the book. Interestingly, there’s also stories by Khmer and Thai authors.

If you’re looking for an interesting take on noir fiction, I’d urge you to check this book out.

I’ve noticed a bit of interest lately around the idea of setting noir crime fiction in Asia.

My debut novel Ghost Money is set in Cambodia the mid-nineties, the point at which the long-running Khmer Rouge insurgency started to fragment and the country was torn by political instability. It’s been out for several months now and nearly everyone who has reviewed it has labelled it noir fiction. Which is very fine with me.  As I noted in my last post, some have even dubbed it Asian noir, which sounds even cooler. 

Ghost Money is the story of a disillusioned Vietnamese Australian ex-cop called Max Quinlan, who is hired to find an Australian businessman, Charles Avery, missing in the chaos.… Read more

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Asian noir, Christopher G Moore, Crime fiction and film from Cambodia, Crime fiction and film from China, Crime fiction and film from Thailand, Martin Limon, Noir fiction, Qui Xiaolong

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

The Next Big Thing

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Andrew Nette| 11 Comments

Call me old fashioned, but I only just found out what an Internet meem is the other day when I was tagged to take part in the ‘Next Big Thing’.

A meme is something that spreads via the Internet. In this instance, it’s a string of short interview questions with various authors about their current book or work in progress.

I was tagged by New Jersey based crime writer Wallace Stroby. He also tagged Scott Alderberg, Alison Gaylin and Philadelphia author Dennis Tafoya. Esteemed company to be in.

Stroby is the author of a string of crime novels, the most recent of which I’ve read is Cold Shot to the Heart featuring the professional female thief, Crissa Stone. If you haven’t checked his work out already, I suggest you do so.

Since I have foresworn off blogging about my next book, I’ll answer the ten questions about my current novel, Ghost Money.

1. What’s the title of your current book?

Ghost Money, out through Snubnose Press.

2. Where did the idea for the book come from?

It came from working on and off as a journalist in Cambodia in the mid-nineties and becoming fascinated with the place, the people, and the contrast between the anything goes, Wild West atmosphere of Phnom Penh and the hardscrabble but incredibly beautiful countryside.… Read more

→ 11 Comments

Posted in Asian noir, Christopher G Moore, Crime fiction, Crime fiction and film from Cambodia, David Whish-Wilson, Martin Limon, Noir fiction

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,