I just finished a new mystery novel set in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Cambodia. It's "Grave Imports" by Eric Stone. There's a lot of information about the antiquities trade in Cambodian artifacts. As a mystery, it's OK, but the Asian interactions are great.

While we're on the subject of good books, the John Rain thrillers by Barry Eisler take you through Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Macao, Bali and other locations in SE Asia and elsewhere. I have been enjoying them thoroughly and have been meaning to post on this.

I didn't mean to steal your thread and appreciate the "Grave Imports" recommendation. It is not available at any library in Connecticut but it is available in paperback on Amazon.

Go Yanks!

I've read all the Eisler books. They are good, but he is becoming too formulaic.

Dice-K tonight. Hope he does better than the last three times.

We figure tonight is our one chance to win this weekend although tomorrow night should be interesting with the two Cy Young contenders going at it.

I thought "The Last Assassin" was one of the better ones but I do get your point on Eisler (and many other writers - Connelly, Baldacci, Child, Woods, Patterson, Sanford and Coben getting too formulaic). It is unfortunately a consequence of success. In business repeating the same thing over and over seems to work - just ask the folks at McDonalds...

Actually, the devolution into formulaic mode is driven by the economics of the publishing industry. Once they write a best seller, the publisher starts paying large advances and the writer must churn out another work of art according to schedule. It's not conducive to the creative process. The worst is Robert Parker. He's a great writer who turns out great things when he takes his time and works at it. When he turns them out on an assembly line, the books are so-so. It's a waste.

there's a very good chance that the winner of Saturday's game will win the Cy Young if it's B or W.

do the books have lots of pictures....what is a diced K....some sort of veggie or cambridgeite....