Behind the Scenes: Crime and Suffering is the first of a four-book, fact-based suspense novel series from award-winning author Staffan Nordstrand which exposes the criminal exploitation of the people behind the facade of many of the tourist paradises in Southeast Asia. The books describe how the poor in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos do their best to survive, often by growing opium, smuggling weapons and selling their daughters to brothels, sometimes before they are even born.The plight of these people is made more complicated because this criminality is often sanctioned by official organisations in existence to protect them, not to take advantage of them. Crime and Suffering begins the series focusing on one poor family from a small village in Laos during a time of increasing drama in the aftermath of the Vietnam War:– Grandfather Songchai and his efforts to smuggle a transport of hidden arms to buyers in west Africa with the help of old friends and family members.– Lu, his daughter-in-law, helps two Americans, Will and Frank, who seek the remains of US soldiers lost in the War which means fatal consequences.– Prim, Lu's daughter, and her antics with teenage friends Lek and Moa who end up on a frightening path heading towards the bars of the sex trade.The characters' fates are interweaved in a colourful and harsh narrative that moves toward its resolution as relentlessly as the mighty Mekong River flows forth.The series is inspired by real people and based on real life stories.