Christopher G. Moore

Christopher G. Moore is a Canadian writer living in Thailand, best known for his Land of Smiles Trilogy and his Vincent Calvino Private Eye series. Moore is the author of more than thirty novels, six works of non-fiction, four radio dramas, and editor of three anthologies.

Moore moved to Thailand in 1988, settling in Bangkok. He has lived there for nearly four decades, and is well-known amongst its English-speaking expatriate community. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages, and are particularly popular in Thailand and Germany.

Early life and education Christopher G. Moore is from Vancouver, British Columbia, and spent his early years living in Vancouver and Toronto. He studied law at Oxford University, following which he joined the University of British Columbia (UBC) as a professor. From 1985 until 1988, Moore lived in New York City, where his debut novel His Lordship's Arsenal was published. He returned to Thailand in 1988, settling in Bangkok. He is fluent in the Thai language. The Vincent Calvino novels are bestsellers in Germany, and the series was optioned for television.

Despite his international acclaim, Moore's novels were not published in Canada until the early 2000s, starting with a 2003 reprint of His Lordship's Arsenal and a 2004 reprint of Waiting for the Lady by Subway Books. His fiction and essays have appeared in the Evergreen Review, The Brooklyn Rail, the Mekong Review, the Bangkok Post, and The Phnom Penh Post, among others. District #3, the 18th novel, was published in November 2024. Moore's protagonist, Vincent Calvino, half-Jewish and half-Italian, is an ex-lawyer from New York, who, under ambiguous circumstances, gave up law practice and became a private eye in Bangkok. "Hewn from the hard-boiled Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler model, Calvino is a tough, somewhat tarnished hero with a heart of gold."—Mark Schreiber, The Japan Times

Chad A. Evans, a Canadian literary critic living in Australia, published a study of Moore's work in 2015 entitled Vincent Calvino's World, A Noir Guide to Southeast Asia.

Style and themes Moore's writing is characterized by a hard-boiled noir style reminiscent of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, and he is praised for his "rich, passionate and original take on the private eye game". His novels are written in third-person, and he employs allegory and symbolism to layer his narratives. "Hemingway in Bangkok",

According to the Canadian literary critic Douglas Fetherling, "it shows at once that Moore is a genuine novelist who just happens to employ the conventions of the thriller genre, that his real interests are believable human behaviour and way cultures cross-pollinate and sometimes clash." Reviewers have highlighted Moore's knowledge of Southeast Asian history and focus on East-West encounters, portraying them as studies in cultural insight laced with humour and realism.

He is also the founder of Changing Climate, Changing Lives (CCCL) Film Festival, established in November 2019. The annual film festival features short films by young Thai film makers showcasing ways of using local wisdom and experience to adapt to climate change in Thailand.

Works Novels His Lordship's Arsenal (1985). Freundlich Books. ; Critics Choice (1988); Heaven Lake Press (1999); Subway Books (2003). Enemies of Memory (1990). White Lotus. ; reprinted as Tokyo Joe, Heaven Lake Press (2004) . A Killing Smile (1991). White Lotus. , second printing (1992), third and fourth printing BookSiam (1996); fifth and sixth printing Heaven Lake Press (2000); seventh printing (2004); Heaven Lake Press revised edition (2025) . A Bewitching Smile (1992). White Lotus. ; Heaven Lake Press (2000); Heaven Lake Press revised edition (2025) . Spirit House (1992). White Lotus. . Heaven Lake Press (1999) , reprinted (2004), Grove Press (2008). Asia Hand (1993). White Lotus. . Heaven Lake Press (2000), Black Cat (2010). A Haunting Smile (1993). White Lotus. , Heaven Lake Press (1999) reprinted (2004; Heaven Lake Press revised edition (2025) . Cut Out (1994). White Lotus. , Matichon, (1996), Heaven Lake Press (1999). Re-released under the title Zero Hour in Phnom Penh – . Saint Anne (1994). Asia Books. ; reprinted as Red Sky Falling in 2005. Comfort Zone (1995). White Lotus; pocketbook edition (1997) ; Heaven Lake Press (2001). The Big Weird (1996). bookSiam. Heaven Lake Press (2008) . God of Darkness (1998). Asia Books. . Heaven Lake Press (1999) reprinted (2004). Cold Hit (1999). Heaven Lake Press. ; reprinted (2004). Minor Wife (2002). Heaven Lake Press. ; reprinted (2004). The Polish translation is titled Ulice Bangkoku. Paying Back Jack (2009). Heaven Lake Press. ; Grove Press (2009). The Corruptionist (2010). Heaven Lake Press. . 9 Gold Bullets (2011). Heaven Lake Press. . The Wisdom of Beer (2012). Heaven Lake Press. . Missing In Rangoon (2013). Heaven Lake Press. . Reunion (2013). Heaven Lake Press. . The Marriage Tree (2014). Heaven Lake Press. . Crackdown (2015). Heaven Lake Press. . Jumpers (2016). Heaven Lake Press. . Dance Me to the End of Time (2020). Heaven Lake Press. . District #3 (2024). Heaven Lake Press. . The Client That Wasn't There (2026). Heaven Lake Press. (paperback). (ebook).

Non-fiction Heart Talk (1992). White Lotus. 2nd Ed. Heaven Lake Press (1998), 3rd Ed. Heaven Lake Press (2005) . The Vincent Calvino Reader's Guide (2010). Heaven Lake Press. . The Cultural Detective (2011). Heaven Lake Press. . Faking It in Bangkok (2012). Heaven Lake Press. . Fear and Loathing in Bangkok (2014). Heaven Lake Press. . The Age of Dis-Consent (2015). Heaven Lake Press. . Memory Manifesto: A Walking Meditation through Cambodia (2017). Heaven Lake Press. . Rooms: On Human Domestication and Submission (2019). Heaven Lake Press. .

Anthology Bangkok Noir (2011; editor). Heaven Lake Press. . Phnom Penh Noir (2012; editor). Heaven Lake Press. . The Orwell Brigade (2012; editor). Heaven Lake Press. .

Radio drama Sticks and Pucks (1980). CBC, Canada. The Bamboo Pillar (1983). CBC, Canada. View from Cambie Bridge (1983). NHK, Japan.

Recognition Premier Special Director Book Award, Semana Negra, Spain (2007), for the German edition of Cut Out, titled Zero Hour in Phnom Penh, the third Calvino novel. German Critics Award for International Crime Fiction (2008), for Zero Hour in Phnom Penh. Arthur Ellis Award, Best Novella Finalist (2013), for Reunion.