‘Cocktails in Bangkok’: Will Scott returns with expat tales of love, scams and chaos
Nearly a year after publishing The Entertainers 1992–1997: Kevin Keegan’s Legacy, former Thaiger Editor-in-Chief Will Scott returns to the world of fiction with Cocktails in Bangkok, a sharp and darkly comic collection of short stories set in Thailand’s expat underbelly.
This latest release marks Scott’s first fictional work since Scoop – The Truth Only Gets in the Way of a Good Story (2016). In Cocktails in Bangkok, he explores themes of love, deception, and criminality through the lens of expats navigating life in Thailand: from doomed bar girl romances and online scams to drug trafficking and encounters with corrupt officials.
“There’s something in each story for readers to identify and empathise with.”
The collection comprises ten stories, with a few familiar faces crossing between them. Fans of Scoop will recognise one returning character: a jaded journalist pursuing a gangster through the chaotic streets of Bangkok.
The inspiration for the book, Scott said, began well before his time in Thailand.
“When I lived in Shanghai, being new to Asia, I was unaware of its darker side. While spending time with some expat friends and colleagues, I heard several intriguing stories — it was a bit like an episode of Men Behaving Badly, but set in Asia. I remember thinking, I should write a book or a collection of short stories, but I never found the time.”
After relocating to Bangkok and covering daily news at The Thaiger, Scott found plenty of real-world inspiration to draw from.
“The same themes kept cropping up. Indian men clashing with ladyboys in Pattaya, foreigners falling in love with bar girls, European women caught smuggling drugs, monks involved in scandals, and call-centre love scams. I wasn’t short of material.”
With wit and grit, Cocktails in Bangkok paints a vivid picture of the stranger side of life in Thailand, where culture clash and personal ambition often collide in unexpected, and sometimes absurd, ways.
Scott is already working on his next novel, The Working Man’s Ballet.
“It’s a bit like Shameless meets Auf Wiedersehen, Pet for a pint in The Grapes.”
The story follows two best friends and their Sunday league football team — a tribute to a fading slice of working-class culture and camaraderie.
Cocktails in Bangkok was published on October 8 and is available in paperback and eBook formats.
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