Readers of what might be termed John Burdett’s Bangkok Trilogy – “Bangkok 8,” “Bangkok Tattoo” and “Bangkok Haunts” – know that he is adept at getting under the skin of the eponymous Thai capital, where he makes his home. Despite the title of this latest novel, “The Godfather of Kathmandu,” and the fact that some of its scenes do take place in the Himalayan haunts of the Nepalese capital, those who hunger for more tastes, sounds and smells of Bangkok as only Burdett can render them need have no fear. For that city is once again front and center in this Thai tale of corruption, mayhem and intrigue.

It is precisely Jitpleecheep’s unique ability to be both consummate insider and curious outsider that makes him the ideal cicerone to the high life and low life of Bangkok. Whether it is an upscale shopping mall, a luxurious riverside mansion or the colonial grandeur of the famed Oriental Hotel with its Somerset Maugham suite, the demotic stre …

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