Provincetown Follies, Bangkok Blues

I had given this gift to my mom. She loves this book, the beginning really grabbed her attention

There's a new voice in crime fiction, and his name is Randall Peffer. His new novel, Provincetown Follies Bangkok Blues, is wonderful, and deserves a place in your bookcase alongside Chandler, Cain, Hammett and Woolrich. Pretty heady praise for a pretty heady tome. Peffer's world is dark, morality is shaky, and public defender Michael DeCastro can only do his best. He has picked up his first murder case--Tuki Aparecio, an exotic and popular drag entertainer in Provincetown, is accused of arson and murder. A mysterious fire has swept through P'town's commercial district, and police hypothesize the blaze was set to cover up the murder of Big Al Costelano, a notorious playboy, real estate tycoon and mobster. The prime suspect: the victim's estranged half-Vietnamese, half-African American drag queen lover. DeCastro likes women, is uncomfortable around gay people . . . and is mightily confused by his attitude toward Tuki. Tuki knows that her talents--in fact her life--depends on controlling information. And her lawyer knows that unless he understands the truth of Tuki's tightly fit frame-up, his client will be found guilty. It's a murky journey through the fog-shrouded streets of Provincetown and the seedy sex clubs of the Southeast Asia--but is it more dangerous than the journey towards truth that both the public defender and the drag queen must pursue? The author captures the wild and crazy feeling of P'town in season, from the drag bars to the posh parties to the anarchic spirit of Commercial Street after dark. He has populated both Provincetown and Bangkok with very real characters with very real problems. Yet all of his characters seem to want to love--and seem to need to laugh. The novel is told from both viewpoints, with some masterful writing to overcome this enormous task. DeCastro is straight, uptight, frightened. Tuki is ambisexual, free, frightened. Neither trusts the other, the conflict set in concrete. The author has managed to infuse humor, wit and a great deal of charm into his prose, yet the novel is character-driven with a vengeance. Michael DeCastro may not be Phillip Marlowe, he may not be Nick Charles, but he is, without question, their younger brother. And he will have time to age.