THE SHANGHAI UNION OF INDUSTRIAL MYSTICS by Nury Vittachi (Polygon)

Vittachi, who is arguably Asia's funniest writer, is a longtime columnist for the Far Eastern Economic Review. His character C.F. Wong is a "feng shui detective" with a cute young Australian female assistant and the laziest, most self-centered secretary who ever lived. The trio's latest madcap adventure is set in China.

TOUCHLINE SAMURAI by Guy Stanley (Book Guild Publishing)

When a man named Ohara, who turns out to be Japanese and not Irish, is brought in to manage an appallingly bad English football club, the clashes — cultural and otherwise — just won't quit. Longtime Japan resident Guy Stanley has diverted from his earlier series of mysteries set in Tokyo with a new book reminiscent of what "Major League" did for U.S. baseball.

Read an interview with Guy Stanley.

BANGKOK HAUNTS by John Burdett (Knopf)

I immensely enjoyed Burdett's previous two mystery-thrillers featuring half-American Thai police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, and expect this one, which involves the usual cast of eccentric farang low-lifes who populate Bangkok, will prove equally entertaining.

Mark Schreiber is a passionate collector of mystery and adventure fiction set in Asia and invites interested readers to visit www.steamyeast.com for more information on this topic.