JIM THOMPSOM IN CAMERON

"On Easter Day, 1967, American businessman and founder of the modern Thai silk industry James H.W. Thompson disappeared while supposedly on a stroll in the jungle-clad Cameron Highlands, central Malaysia." Thus runs the blurb of William Warren's compelling and even eerie book Jim Thompson: The Unsolved Mystery, which appears to be the definitive account of the man's life and the theories swirling around his presumed death. The main ones are that Thompson a) got lost in the jungle, b) was abducted for reasons of ransom or politics, or c) committed suicide. Unfortunately none of these theories has a shred of evidence to substantiate it; Thompson might just as well have vanished into thin air, and his disappearance holds much the same fascination for idle people of Bangkok as does the JFK assassination for idle people everywhere.