First in the Land of Smiles Trilogy
 
ISBN 978-616-7503-43-1
Paperback (B format)
2025, 321 pages
 
A Killing Smile, a classic novel in Southeast Asia, is a simple but deep story about the aftermath of events following the death of a successful Los Angeles attorney's wife. Lost, confused, and angry, Lawrence Baring, Esq. goes to Bangkok and confronts Tuttle—the man his wife, Sarah, had once loved.

The story follows the conflict and enveloping relationship of Baring and Tuttle in the underworld of Bangkok's Patpong, Soi Cowboy, and the late-night meeting spot called HQ where spies, gangsters, diplomats, pimps, businessmen, writers, teachers, travelers gather alongside the women they buy for the night. The novel is filled with twists and turns and atmosphere and fascinating characters shipwrecked in a society they vaguely understand.
 
Available in eBook and print formats: 
Kindle
POD - Print on Demand
 
Praise
 
A Review of A Killing Smile by Trevor Bide
 
After the death of his wife and at a total loss in life successful Los Angeles attorney Lawrence gets invited to Bangkok, Thailand as a guest by his wife's former lover Robert Tuttle with a view to there being matters they ought to settle. This came as a surprise to Lawrence as he'd only heard the name Robert Tuttle about two or three times in the entire twenty two years of his marriage. 
 
What could there be to talk about and what possible matters could there be to settle. They were just two men who loved the same woman but whose lives went in totally different directions. One of the men walked down the isle in Seattle and settled in to married life with Sarah whilst the other attended the wedding and then vanished. However, on going through his wife's personal belongings at her office, Lawrence comes across her old diaries. Sarah had written twenty two diaries, one diary for each year of their marriage and Robert Tuttle appeared in every one of them. 
 
It appears that throughout their 22 year married life that Robert Tuttle had never really been forgotten. Traumatized and in pursuit of answers, Lawrence eventually takes up Tuttle's invitation and heads to Bangkok. The meetings are not by appointment in a swanky office that Lawrence was used to, but by informal hanging out at the HQ bar - the Thermae Coffee House in Bangkok. This was an infamous nightlife spot where entrance was by way of a long dark alley if you arrived after midnight, whilst closing time was around six or seven o'clock in the morning, and the colour of money spoke volumes especially purple. If some form of revenge was on the menu from either party then you'd have to put your money on Tuttle. He knew Bangkok well and how things worked, he spoke Thai admirably, and he was a legend of the HQ bar. 
 
Meanwhile, Lawrence wasn't sure which country Bangkok was in let alone know the language, and was out of his comfort zone when not billing for attorney hours worked. The trip takes Lawrence through Bangkok's underbelly as he gets immersed in the world and stories of The Thermae Coffee House. There are two questions to ask; how will it end? And have you ever been fooled by a smile? The author Christopher G. Moore not only hooks you with the detail of the story lines, but also educates in Thai ways at the same time. The novel hits the spot in so many ways for me, but knowing the streets, roads and places mentioned within the novel gave me an illustrated view as well and brought back golden memories of the old Bangkok as I knew it. The author is the master of Bangkok noir fiction, and this is a must read for those who enjoy this genre.
 
Interesting footnote: Trevor Bide tried a number of times to post the review for A Killing Smile and his request for rejected and gave him the instruction to edit it. He did so twice. Each time it was rejected without any reason given.
 
“[A Killing Smile] set the standard of an artistic movement: Bangkok Noir ... Brilliant observations on the Bangkok nightlife ... A creative triumph.”
—James Newman Fiction
 
“The whole effect is very real— particularly the revelation of those razor teeth back of the Smile.”
—Gore Vidal
 
“Moore is a master of detail . . . a pioneer, daring and inventive.”
—The Nation
 
“I was knocked out by the sensitivity of the writing, the textures of the characters, the many levels of feeling. The outcome is one of the finest male bonding stories I have ever come across and I kick myself that I didn’t write this novel.”
—Stirling Silliphant, Oscar winner for In the Heat of the Night
 
“The portrait of Tuttle as an expatriate shipwrecked in an alien tropic brings to mind Theroux's Jack Flowers.”
—The Japan Times
 
“In A Killing Smile Moore succeeds in translating for a Western audience the inside of how Thais think. Above all he describes with an objective, non-judgemental eye the raw pathos, the light and shadow of the world that never surfaces in the glossy tourist catalogues.”
—Fabio Novel, Thriller Magazine (Italy)
 
“Critically regarded as the best Western author today whose books focus on this country (e.g., A Killing Smile).”
—Bangkok Post