The Thai Amulet

Midwest Book Review

A fascinating tale about greed, treachery, betrayal and murder.

Publishers Weekly

In Canadian Hamilton s alluring seventh archeological novel (after 2002 s The Etruscan Chimera), her globe-trotting American antiques dealer and sleuth, Lara McClintock, goes on a buying trip to Thailand, where she also tries to track down William Beauchamp, a fellow dealer who s gone missing. Meanwhile, Lara s stepdaughter Jennifer is in the country to meet the family of her Thai boyfriend, Chat. As befits the mysterious Asian setting, nothing is what it first seems. The shifts of scene between contemporary Bangkok and 16th-century Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai capital, may confuse some readers, but on the whole the author does a fine job of blending history with the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the Orient. Corpses pile up in both past and current plots, with parallel motives rooted in the quest for power, jealousy and greed. A list of both ancient and modern characters eases the task of keeping all the names straight. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Lara McClintoch, antiques dealer and series sleuth (The Etruscan Chimera), ponders 50-year-old clippings and amulet fragments that a Bangkok dealer sent to his wife before he disappeared. Lara's subsequent search in Thailand results in danger and discovery. A fascinating addition to the series. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Antiques dealer and amateur sleuth Lara McClintoch (The Etruscan Chimera, 2002) gets roped into investigating more than Southeast Asian antiques on her trip to Thailand. She's expected to play surrogate parent to her boyfriend's daughter Jennifer Lucza when she and her Thai almost-fiancé, Chat Chaiwong, introduce Jennifer to his family in Bangkok. But then Lara's ex-husband insists that she help Natalie Beauchamp, whose husband Will, another antiques dealer, abandoned her and their developmentally disabled daughter two years ago to go live in Thailand. Apparently, Will has disappeared in Bangkok, and someone's sent Natalie a mysterious package containing clippings about a society woman named Helen Ford suspected of murder 50 years ago-along with three terra-cotta Thai amulets, one deliberately broken. Natalie desperately needs either her decamped husband alive or proof of his death. Against her better judgment, Lara agrees to look for Will. In Bangkok, she and Jennifer live in luxury with Chat's incredibly wealthy family. The hospitality sours, however, when Chat's elderly father dies suddenly, and the machinations among his much younger wife, a powerful second-in-command, and a business rival who wants Chat to marry his daughter pull bookish Chat into the family's business. Meanwhile, Lara discovers that Will disappeared on the brink of publishing a book about Helen Ford, and that the same painter once painted Helen Ford and the Chaiwong family. Could there be a connection 50 years later? Lush local color balanced by an astringent view of Thai and expatriate greed: an entertaining tropical tragedy.