The collection is called the NJA Club Series because the main characters all met and congregate at the mysterious NJA Club, where people of all backgrounds mix, the common denominator being their strangeness. 

The first novel in the Series was Bangkok Shadows. It is the first book I ever published, and when I started writing it, there was no intention of starting a series. I had retired from the practice of criminal law and was living in Bangkok when it dawned on me I could start doing what I always wanted to do, before I ever thought of law school: write fiction. My MA degree in Creative Writing had been forlornly staring at me from my wall for many decades. I had the time, the stimulation of an exotic locale, and a new Apple notebook (which I’m still using.)

Bangkok Shadows didn’t even start as a novel. I had just joined Keybangers Bangkok, my beloved writing group, and wanted to have recent work to bring for critique. I started writing a series of character sketches which were greatly exaggerated composites of people I’d met throughout my life, placing them in Bangkok. These early sketches led to the full development of the major characters who have graced the pages of the series ever since: Glenn Murray Cohen, the contradictory but lovable US expat criminal lawyer, Sleepy Joe, the Australian Special Forces veteran who is part hippie and part killing machine, the elusive but wise and generous retired Thai officer known as  the General, Oliver, the big, boisterous yet all-knowing Aussie information expert, the man who can find out almost anything, and Phil Funston, the talented but unbearably obnoxious American guitarist. The sketches also created the most important secondary characters: Lek, Glenn’s building concierge and good friend, plus Ray the Bartender, the greatest raconteur in Bangkok (and that’s a steep hill to climb) and Edward, the untrustworthy would-be money launderer. 

I had no thoughts of creating a series when I decided to turn my sketches into a novel. I was totally consumed with the problems of developing a plot and storyline that would keep people reading. I decided to base the story on a true incident where the US essentially kidnapped from Thailand a Russian arms dealer wanted in America. In my book, the CIA recruits Glenn and his friends to do the dirty work for them. It was only at the very end of the book that I realized I could keep the option open, though it wasn’t my immediate intent. Like every writer, my plans were to move on to writing books I thought would be more significant contributions to world literature.

Then a strange thing happened: people liked Bangkok Shadows. Five years later, it still sells and gets large numbers of KU readers. I’m pleased to say that many readers go on to enjoy the other books. There’s no greater motivation to write a second novel and create a series. That’s how Bangkok Whispers came to be. Bangkok Whispers continues to attract readers in the same numbers as the first book, and from I can see, many readers move on the the third novel, Bangkok Blues.

Bangkok Whispers tells the tale of an old friend of Glenn’s who comes to Bangkok seeking protection from people who are out to kill him, but he offers little information about who or why. There’s more overt violence than in the first book.

Bangkok Blues finds Glenn managing the career of Phil Funston, and going nowhere fast. He and his friends meet an american scientist investigating claims of a deadly virus in China. Strange thugs tail the scientist, and the NJA gang must come to the rescue.

The fourth novel, Bangkok Changes, has just been released. A crew from the Brooklyn Mafia is in Bangkok, trying to extort local businesses to buy booze they hijacked back home. I loved mixing the Mafia and Bangkok, two subjects I’ve explored so often in my writing.