As it says on the tin – or, rather, in the blurb: “Two days after private eye Mason sees a drunken Australian kicked to death in Bangkok’s notorious Soi Cowboy, he is approached by one of the men involved. Mobster Raymond Long owns nightclubs on the seedy sex strip and wants Mason to find his American accountant, who has disappeared, taking with her a computer hard drive. Mason is about to turn him down, when he realizes the missing accountant is his friend, Nathalie…”

Why Nathalie was even working for a bottom-feeder like Long is, of course, part of the mystery, along with what is on the missing hard drive. The motivations of Long, Mason – and Nathalie – seem clear cut at first glance but the twists keep coming at a pace to keep the crime aficionados alert and on their toes.

That Mason and Dixie have their lethal moments is expected and McMillan dishes out the violence with skill, thrills and the right amount of restraint – i.e. not much – but never without good reason (it’s not for shrinking violets but they’re probably not reading this anyway). Full disclosure requires me to declare the author as a friend, so my loyalty is (mostly!) unqualified. But my professional respect has shot up a fair few notches. More Mason and Dixie books soon, please, Ron. The first one is highly recommended.

Iain Millar is a London-based freelance journalist who has written for The Independent on Sunday, Bloomberg and The Art Newspaper among many others.