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John Burdett,
Author of the Royal Thai Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep Mystery Books,
Noir aka Hardboiled Series Set in Thailand
Thai Working Girls Surprise Author, Inspire Series
Writer John Burdett is best known for the mystery series Royal Thai Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep Mystery Books set in Thailand.

Burdett, a former lawyer, lived and worked in Hong Kong for twelve years. Eventually, he made enough money to abandon law and pursue a career as a mystery novelist.

He had visited Thailand many times before deciding to set his first crime book in Bangkok, Thailand, called Krung Threp ("City of Angels") by natives.  Unlike many male visitors, he was not particularly interested in Thailand's famous sex industry and had no plans to write about it.

At first, Burdett thought he was just looking for a location that would be new to a Western audience. He began his research by hanging out in bars that catered to foreign tourists, hoping that eventually he would meet someone in the Royal Thai Police. That never happened.

Instead, he met a great many Thai "working girls" and made an important discovery: these young women were not what he expected. They were not sad, not broken, not victims. Rather, they were strong and smart, taking advantage of such opportunities as they had to make money for their families, almost all of whom lived in Issan, an impoverished part of Thailand.

Burdett also became interested in Thai Buddhism and spent some time in a monastery learning about the philosophy.

The sights, sounds and voices of Thailand rattled around in his imagination until one day he sat down at the computer and began to write in the extraordinarily compelling voice of Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep.

Burdett now splits his time between France and Bangkok and spends a lot of time researching in the red light areas of Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. He is divorced and has one daughter.
Author John Burdett
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