Intrigue, murder, and mystery fill the pages of novelist and English teacher Randall Peffer’s new book, “Provincetown Follies, Bangkok Blues.” Peffer, known in the literary world for his numerous fiction and nonfiction books, wrote this novel in under two and a half years and plans to continue writing more under the same genre. Peffer said, “I started out writing mostly nonfiction, but it became somewhat boring, so I wanted to try something new.” So he started writing mystery novels. Peffer’s first mystery, “Killing Neptune’s Daughter,” was originally published in 2004 and sparked his undying interest in the genre. “Provincetown Follies, Bangkok Blues,” published in May of 2006, is a clever combination of mystery and historical events that brings up many issues that are relevant in today’s world. Though it is a fictional novel, Peffer incorporates numerous aspects of human nature and draws character conflicts experienced in Southeast Asia. In his book, Peffer integrated the fact that the Vietnamese War left a staggering 400,000 orphans living as outcasts in Vietnam, Cambodia, and various other Southeast Asian countries. One of the central characters in the novel, Tuki Aparecio, is one of these 400,000 orphans. Peffer described the novel as “‘The Crying Game’ meets ‘Chinatown.’” This twist of psychological thriller and mystery cunningly engages readers and challenges them to question moral issues that are prevalent in modern society. Even though Peffer published his book a mere six months ago, three movie companies are already interested in the rights for a script. Peffer was faced with the enormous task of condensing his 80,000-word novel into an 18,000-word screenplay. Peffer successfully completed this undertaking, but he said the key was to arduously “cut, cut, cut.” “It was a great exercise, actually,” commented Peffer. “I had to decide what was absolutely crucial for the plot and what would make a film too complicated.” Though there haven’t been any finalized plans as of now, Peffer hopes to hear from the movie companies soon. Having his book transferred into movie form is an exciting and interesting experience for him, as well as for the entire PA community. At the beginning of the book, a murder is committed in Provincetown, Cape Cod, and the murderer attempts to cover up the crime by setting the scene on fire. As the police investigate farther into the case, the victim’s estranged lover, Tuki Aparecio, is arrested. Aparecio is a half Vietnamese, half African-American drag queen who just fled from Southeast Asia to America. Because of the severity of the crime, and the oddities surrounding Aparecio, no public defender wants to take the case. Finally, 30-year-old lawyer Michael DeCastro takes it. DeCastro is a Portuguese fisherman and also, ironically, homophobic. The story creatively uses Aparecio’s back-story to explain her motives and characteristics during the book. She was raised by two Vietnamese drag queens in Patpong and she has always referred to herself as a female. Because of mysterious events in South Vietnam and Bangkok, however, Aparecio is forced to flee to America. DeCastro must figure out the central question – who framed Tuki Aparecio and why? He also has his own problems to deal with as well. Aparecio’s case is going to trail around the same time that DeCastro is planning on getting married. The novel displays the character’s struggle with balancing his desires with his responsibilities. “‘Provincetown Follies, Bangkok Blues’ is an edgy, noir mystery that incorporates southeast Asian history as well as suspense and mystery,” said Peffer. The immense amount of Southeastern history woven between the narrations has received great reviews from various magazines and newspapers. Another prevalent theme throughout all of Peffer’s novels is the idea of race and racial tensions. “I always write about strangers in strange lands. Misunderstandings occur because of uninformed stereotypes about gender, race, and ethnicity,” said Peffer. Before writing “Provincetown Follies, Bangkok Blues,” Peffer wrote “Watermen,” an account of the daily lives of Chesapeake’s fishermen, and “Logs of the Dead Pirates Society,” a personal narrative as well as a historical account of the New England coast. In addition, Peffer has written seven travel books for National Geographic and Lonely Planet. Peffer has gone on 20 book tours in Cape Cod, a few of them in Provincetown itself. Just the other day, on November 16th at the Andover Bookstore Peffer read excerpts from his novel and answered any lingering questions about the book. After this great success, many are left wondering – what’s next for Andover’s own novelist? “What I started as a ‘stand alone mystery’ is beginning to turn into an entire series revolving around the lawyer, Michael DeCastro,” explained Peffer. His next mystery novel, which will be released in about 14 months, will be called “Listen to the Dead.” In addition to this book, Peffer is also writing a fourth mystery, though he has not decided on a definite name yet. This novel, still revolving around lawyer DeCastro, is about an eleventh grader’s death at a boarding school in Boston and the unanswered questions surrounding her death. There are big things in the works for novelist and teacher Randall Peffer, so be sure to keep an eye out for his future mystery novels and, hopefully, films.
