Vincent Calvino

Vincent Calvino is a fictional Bangkok -based private eye created by Christopher G. Moore in the Vincent Calvino Private Eye series. Vincent Calvino first appeared in 1992 in "Spirit House", the first novel in the series. His latest appearance is in "The Risk of Infidelity Index", the ninth novel in the series published in 2007.

Moore’s protagonist, Vincent Calvino, half Jewish and half Italian, is an ex-lawyer from New York, who, under ambiguous circumstances, gave up law practice and became a private eye in Bangkok. Calvino has often been likened to classic hardboiled detective characters like Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, and Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. “The hard-bitten worldview and the cynical, bruised idealism of his battered hero [Vincent Calvino] is right out of Chandler,” wrote Kevin Burton Smith in "January Magazine". "The Daily Yomiuri" called Calvino “a thinking man’s Philip Marlowe … a cynic on the surface but a romantic at heart.” "The Nation" calls Calvino “a worthy successor of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe and Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer.” “Hewn from the hardboiled Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler model, Calvino is a tough, somewhat tarnished hero with a heart of gold” (Mark Schreiber, "Japan Times"). Some critics see Moore’s work a little differently however. Douglas Fetherling said “Moore is a genuine novelist who just happens to employ the conventions of the thriller genre, that his real interests are believable human behavior and way cultures cross-pollinate and sometimes crash. [His work] is real prose, not Raymond Chandler stuff, and his motives are as close to art as they are to entertainment.”

While Calvino shares many characteristics with traditional hardboiled detectives including being hard drinking and having a fierce sense of justice, his private eye experience is in unfamiliar settings. Instead of solving crimes in his home country, Calvino has uprooted and transplanted himself in a distant country with drastically different language and culture. Calvino is an expatriate private eye working mainly in Bangkok, Thailand (where most of the Vincent Calvino novels are set), although he occasionally ventures into the Southeast Asian neighborhood such as Cambodia ("Zero Hour in Phnom Penh") and Vietnam ("Comfort Zone").

Calvino is more of an anti-hero than a hero and certainly a complicated character. Like a good detective, he has keen eye for detail and piercing intelligence, but is self-depreciating and unpretentious. Unlike Philip Marlowe he has little sense of style; he drives a Honda City around Bangkok and often appears in clothes he bought second-hand. He is often underestimated. To the untrained eye, Calvino may appear rough and cynical but he is in fact very caring and has a strong sense of fairness and right and wrong, and would not hesitate to put himself in harm’s way to do the right thing. This frequently puts him on the receiving end of violence.

As an expat in Bangkok, Calvino finds himself in the labyrinth of local politics, double-dealing and fleeting relationships. Calvino is highly adaptable and a fast learner, but solving crimes in a foreign country is tough, especially where the rule of law is not the norm and things and people are often not what they seem. Calvino understands that he operates in a place where different rules apply. He appreciates that there are certain things that he doesn’t know or understand. The Thai police underworld in particular is tough to crack.

Unlike typical tough-guy sleuths, Calvino admits that he would never survive without Colonel Prachai or Pratt, an honest and well-connected Thai cop, his best friend, who brought him to Thailand in the first place and remains his strongest supporter and protector. If Calvino is somewhat lacking in fine-upbringing and sophistication, this is compensated in Colonel Pratt, his Shakespeare-quoting and saxophone-playing buddy. He learns from Pratt and those he encounters the cultural and social complexities. His interest to understand the local culture and people is often what saves him from serious dangers, although Calvino is rather prone to injuries and Pratt has to keep a watchful eye over him.

Calvino lives along the edges of Thailand society, taking cases mainly from expatriates. He mingles with unsavory characters who populate the underbelly of Thai and Southeast Asian societies. Calvino's world is one of foreign correspondents, diplomats, business executives, English language teachers, adventurers, drunks, con artists, whores and hustlers, all unwilling, unable or uninterested in going home. Influential families and big business culture of Thailand as well as Thai language and cultural insights are an undercurrent in the Calvino novels.

Vincent Calvino Private Eye Series

Moore’s Vincent Calvino Private Eye series is a hardboiled crime fiction in the western tradition reinvented in an exotic but realistic Southeast Asia. The series is among the first English-language crime fiction that introduces the element of Noir Fiction into the world of Southeast Asian crime fiction. The Vincent Calvino mysteries are dark and realistic, interwoven with contemporary local and international affairs.

“Moore’s work recalls the international ‘entertainments’ of Graham Greene or John le Carré....Intelligent and articulate, Moore offers a rich, passionate and original take on the private eye game, fans of the genre should definitely investigate, and fans of foreign intrigue will definitely appreciate,” (Kevin Burton Smith, "January Magazine").

The Thrilling Detective has said of the Calvino series: "A big part of Moore's charm is his unerring eye for the intricacies of not just the Thai culture but also the Thai psyche, and the curious demimonde of the expat community, caught forever in the tug-of-war between East and West…. [H] e captures the sights and sounds and the lights of Bangkok's nightlife particularly well."

Novels from the Vincent Calvino series have been translated or are in the process of being translated into a number of languages, including German, French, Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Turkish, Norwegian and Thai.

The third novel in the Vincent Calvino series "Zero Hour in Phnom Pehn" (original "Cut Out") won the 3rd place of 2004 German Critics Award for Crime Fiction (Deutsche Krimi Preis) in the international crime fiction category.

Novels in the Vincent Calvino series

* "Spirit House" (1992)
* "Asia Hand" (1993)
* "Zero Hour in Phnom Penh" (original title: "Cut Out") (1994)
* "Comfort Zone" (1995)
* "The Big Weird" (1996)
* "Cold Hit" (1999)
* "Minor Wife" (2002)
* "Pattaya 24/7" (2004)
* "The Risk of Infidelity Index" (2007)

See also

*Crime fiction
*List of detective fiction authors
*List of mystery writers
*List of crime writers
*List of Canadian writers
*List of novelists by nationality

External links

* [http://www.vincentcalvino.com Vincent Calvino Official website]
* [http://www.cgmoore.com/work/index-crime.htm Christopher G. Moore official website]
* [http://www.cgmoore.com Author's Homepage]
* [http://www.cgmoore.com/life/index-interviews.htm Author's Interview]
* [http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4505304 Houston Chronicle: The Risk of Infidelity Index]
* [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=newplate26&date=20071226&query=Tom+Plate Seattle Times: The Risk of Infidelity Index]
* [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/member.html?fb20040718a1.htm Japan Times: Interview]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/books/review/Crime-t.html?ex=1359090000&en=24c29fc4d6d8635e&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss New York Times: The Risk of Infidelity Index]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/crime-fiction-around-the-world-in-80-sleuths-873660.html The Independent: Crime fiction: Around the world in 80 sleuths]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/artsandculture/2221840/Books-50-of-the-best-holiday-reads.html The Telegraph]
* [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1033411/CRIME-WATCH-The-pick-months-crime-fiction.html The Daily Mail]