The other challenge for Braddock is that he is having an affair with the police chief’s wife. The first was suppressed, but it is now difficult to keep the press from raising the alarm of an active serial killer, news of which threatens the tourist trade. It turns out this is a second murder with the same MO. The steadiness of his life becomes unraveled when the police chief calls him in to help investigate a murder of a foreigner, a man found bludgeoned and burned. While the truths he uncovers provide a needed dose of reality for his customers, he gets more satisfaction from a separate business he runs in provide counseling and problem solving advice. The customers for his private detective business mostly involve investigations of suspected infidelity in love relationships. I love how he consorts frequently with a Buddhist monk for advice and how his playful mind reaches to examples from fiction to help with his challenges. He is unusual as a hero in this genre by avoiding violence, yet he can prove himself brave without being macho. He is no boy scout, as he is frequently subject to the human weaknesses of lust and the escape from internal stresses through alcohol.

So what is there about this to distinguish it from the crowd? Our hero, a middle-aged Brit David Braddock, is easy to identify with, kind and literate, a man who empathizes with the downtrodden. A detective with heart, a fascinating mystery, and an exotic location set in an island community in Thailand.

It was a real treat for me to discover this 2012 entry to a new detective series.

Everyone Burns by John Dolan