THOMAS TRANG chats to Paul Burke about Dark Neon Dirt, LA heists, Caravaggio, Hollywood money, Elmore Leonard and Andor.

DARK NEON DIRT Shaun Nguyen is a Vietnamese war orphan who made it to America. But danger was never far behind – from the Chinatown gangs he ran with in New York, to his years in Iraq dodging bullets and defusing bombs. Nguyen learnt how to survive. By all means necessary.

Now he’s a high-end thief in Los Angeles. One of the best, but smart enough to know he’s living on borrowed time. Then a job goes sideways, leaving bodies on the Hollywood Freeway, stolen diamonds in his pocket, and a target on his back.

Which gets the attention of Thomas Monroe, an LAPD lieutenant who’s been hunting Nguyen for years. Captain Ahab with a gun and badge, plus his own dirty secrets closing in on him fast. The two of them are set on a collision course – a thief who won’t be caught and the cop who doesn’t miss.

Not exactly the quiet life Nguyen is after, especially now he’s met a mysterious woman who’s landed in town. They fall for each other hard. A gallerist living in France who used to be with the FBI’s Art Crime Team. Able to spot forgeries a mile off, but she hasn’t figured him out yet.

So once he wraps up this business with the diamonds, Nguyen is done with the game. The problem is she’s not quite done with the FBI.

Welcome to the City of Angels – where everyone has an angle.

Thomas Trang is a French/Vietnamese writer currently living in the UK after stints in Australia, New York, and Singapore. His stories have previously appeared in FutureQuake, Full House Literary and the Revolutions 2 anthology. He is currently working on a SF trilogy which mixes cyberpunk with the gritty realpolitik of The Wire and Cold War spy fiction.

Mentions: Army of Shadows (Fr. Film), Dennis Lehane, Michael Clayton (Am. Film), Sarah Paretsky, Don De Lillo, Hunter (Fr. TV)  Miami Vice (TV show), Ilyn Welch.

Recommendations 

Paul Burke writes for Monocle Magazine, Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction contribution). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2025. His first book An Encyclopedia of  Spy Fiction will be out early 2026.

Produced by Junkyard Dog

Produced by Junkyard Dog

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