First Tastes: Sonchai Jitpleecheep in BANGKOK EI8HT

by Margot Kinberg

Thank you, Craig, for inviting me to contribute to your 'First Tastes' feature. One of the more unusual sleuths of recent decades is John Burdett's Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a member of the Royal Thai Police. And it's the very fact that he's not a 'garden variety' sleuth that makes strong impression in his first outing, BANGKOK EI8HT.

Perhaps the most important thing about Sonchai – the aspect of his character that stands out the most – is that he is an observant Buddhist. From the very first line of BANGKOK EI8HT, we learn this about him:

"The African American Marine in the grey Mercedes will soon die of bites from Naja siamensis, but we don’t know that yet, Pichai and I (the future is impenetrable, says the Buddha)."

Sonchai will likely be the first to say that he is not as far along in his Buddhist journey as others. But the Buddhist world view and perspective are tightly woven into his approach to life.

In BANGKOK EI8HT, Sonchai and his partner Pichai Apiradee are tailing a car when its driver is murdered. When the two detectives get out of their car to investigate, Pichai ends up being killed as well. Sonchai regards Pichai as his 'soul brother,' so he determines to avenge his friend's death. As he goes about investigating the murders, we see how his character shows both the very natural human wish for revenge and an awareness that that's not a very enlightened point of view if you're a Buddhist.

Still, as he tells the reader, 'You have to remember we're Buddhist.'

That set of beliefs informs much of what he does. In fact, Buddhism is the reason for which Sonchai joined the police. He and Pichai were responsible for the shooting of a drug dealer.  As a way of mending his karma and trying to do some good, Sonchai became a police officer with the goal of preventing and solving killings.

Another essential aspect of Sonchai's character that makes a strong first impression is that he is biracial. His mother is Thai, a former bar girl; his father is White. He is thoroughly Thai in his outlook and lifestyle, but in some ways, he has a very farang – foreign – appearance. Also, unlike many Thais, he's lived in other countries, particularly France and Germany. He's learned enough about farang ways to be very useful when the FBI takes an interest in  the murder he's investigating, and sends an agent to Bangkok to work on the case. It turns out that the victim is US Marine William Bradley, who just may have been involved in the illegal jade trade. So the FBI wants a hand in the investigation. But in spite of Sonchai's appearance and familiarity with other people's ways, 'I feel very Thai, despite my straw-colored hair and sharp nose.'

He doesn't really identify with any other culture. He even occasionally shows a little contempt for some farangs.

That said though, he is also conscious of the fact that his father is White. He's asked his mother about him, but thus far, she hasn't told him his father's identity. She has said that she'll tell him when she's ready to, but it's apparently a difficult issue for her. And although he doesn't press her too much, Sonchai feels incomplete without that knowledge.

Still, Sonchai has a very deep connection to Thailand and an extensive knowledge of Bangkok, which he often calls by its Thai name Krung Thep. He knows every part of the city, not just the precinct where he works. Because of his mother's former profession, he's as comfortable in Bangkok's sex clubs and bars as he is anywhere else, and he's made connections all over the city. His love of the city doesn't blind him to its weaknesses, but he gives the impression that he wouldn't really be completely comfortable living anywhere else.

Sonchai also gives the first impression of introspection. And his quest is logical for a number of reasons. For one thing, as I've already mentioned, he is committed to Buddhism, and that tradition teaches the value of that kind of soul-searching. For another, he doesn't have what you could call a blameless past.

'After we murdered the yaa baa dealer our mothers secured us an interview with the Abbot of a monastery in the far north, who told us we were the lowest form of life in the ten thousand universes.'

Now that he's working on living a better life (from the Buddhist perspective), he wants to make sense of it all:

'...I am stranded here in the pollution called life on earth. I must try harder with my meditation.'

And yet, Sonchai doesn't wallow in self-hatred. He knows that he does his job well, and he has faith that he can get answers in this case. To put it another way, his self-reflection doesn't get mired in rumination.

So in sum, what sort of impression does Sonchai Jitpleecheep make in his first outing? He is a devout, but very pragmatic Buddhist. That's how he thinks, and that's how he goes about investigating cases. He is intimately familiar with Bangkok and its ways. He understands a lot of farangs better than they do him. And he does his best to accept things as they are and make the best of them. In other words, he is quintessentially Thai. At the same time, he doesn't deny that he has another side – a side that makes him sometimes question what he believes: 'I, on the other hand, find myself to be one of life's ditherers.'

That doesn't stop him being a skilled cop and very natural fit with the Bangkok setting of this series.

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Margot Kinberg is a mystery novelist and an Associate Professor at the Carlsbad campus of National University in Southern California.

She is the author of PUBLISH OR PERISH and B-VERY FLAT, two mystery tales set in a university environment, starring police detective turned professor Joel Williams, and was a driving force behind the charity short story anthology, IN A WORD, MURDER. Margot blogs about crime fiction at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist.

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What do you think of John Burdett's Buddhist Bangkok cop? Do you enjoy a bit of philosophy or spirituality in your crime fiction? Margot and I would love to hear what you think of Sonchai Jitpleecheep?