Working Tokyo nightclubs is easy money for beautiful and troubled American Val Benson - until a wealthy client with a dark past and sinister hobbies reluctantly gives up a map to one of the greatest treasures lost in World War II. With yakuza, motorcycle gangs, rogue CIA, treasure hunters, pimps, Thai boxers and her Congressman father snapping at her high heels, Val burns a trail of destruction across Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and the Burmese borderlands to get the loot before someone less deserving does.

From comfort women and tomb-raiding in Japanese-occupied Burma to the murderous echoes of the Vietnam War, long forgotten crimes come roaring back to life. Val, a new anti-hero of Asian Noir, ambiguous and unreliable, takes her dark, epic journey with her friends: a Japanese nightclub hostess with broken dreams, a British kickboxer, and a washed up Australian treasure hunter. The superficial party girl, confronted by mounting horrors, must dig deep to discover an inner courage to survive and win the prize - and maybe redemption. Gaijin Cowgirl is a breathless, violent page-turner with a surprising, dangerous heroine to match.

Jame moved to Hong Kong from New York in 1997. He is an award-winning financial journalist and editor. "Gaijin Cowgirl" is his first novel, available now from Crime Wave Press - http://crimewavepress.com . His non-fiction book, "The Story of Angkor", is a history for tourists to the Cambodian monuments.

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Jame about both his books, his experiences in and around Asia, the difficulties between switch from non-fiction to fiction writing, and his upcoming work.

You can find out more about him at his blog, AsiaHacks at:

http://asiahacks.com