Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9781569473764
ISBN: 1569473765
Label: Soho Press
Manufacturer: Soho Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2004-12-01
Publisher: Soho Press
Studio: Soho Press

“The Coroner’s Lunch is marvelous. The setting may be unique in Western fiction, and the characters are unique to themselves. Sweet but not sappy, offbeat but not self-conscious about it, this book doesn’t so much pull you in as open a door and let you walk happily through. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s books will love this one.”—SJ Rozan, author of Absent Friends

Laos, 1972. The Communist Pathet Lao has taken over this former French colony. Most of the educated class has fled, but Dr. Siri Paiboun, a Paris-trained doctor whose late wife had been an ardent Communist, remains. And so this 72-year-old physician is appointed state coroner, despite the fact that he has no training or even supplies to use in performing his new task. What he does have is curiosity and integrity. At his age he is not about to let a bunch of ignorant bureaucrats dictate to him.

One of his first cases involves three bodies recovered from a reservoir, but Dr. Siri establishes that the cause of death was not drowning. These men seem to have been electrocuted, perhaps tortured, and they also seem to be Vietnamese, which could have international repercussions. And then there is the inexplicable death of a Party bigwig’s equally important wife. She collapsed and died at a banquet. But Dr. Siri doesn’t think her death was from natural causes.

In the course of his investigations, Dr. Siri must travel to his birthplace, a Hmong village he has not visited for more than 60 years, where he makes a profound discovery, not only about the motive for several murders, but about himself.

Colin Cotterill was born in London, taught in Australia, the U.S., Laos and Japan, and lives in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand on the Burmese border. He works for UNICEF and local nongovernmental agencies to prevent child prostitution and to rehabilitate abused children.

For more information, visit www.colincotterill.com 

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book! Wonderful character!
Comment: The Coroner's Lunch I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was drawn by the setting initially and thought the plot sounded interesting enough to read the book. However, the character of Dr Siri was the real surprise and delight here. An aging and somewhat jaded revolutionary, he proves to be a man of remarkable character, insight, and grittiness. As a 57 year old beginning to feel my age in a work environment of mostly young people (under 50), Siri is my hero. He is dogged in pursuit of justice, analytical in his use of the scientific method to understand his cases, but all the while sensitive to the mystical, non-empirical world that surrounds us. Although old (72), he is still kicking enough to flirt with his lunch lady, tip a few with a collaborator, and risk his neck for a neighbor and her chidren. He is a great character! Considering he spent his life as a Communist insurgent fighting the French and the CIA in the jungles of Laos, what an unlikely hero for an American reader. I sincerely hope Cotterill keeps up the good work in the 2nd Siri novel, 33 Teeth, which I intend to read soon. I'm hoping this series will be as good as Robert Wilson's Bruce Medway series set in West Africa.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The perfect mystery novel
Comment: What a thrill to find this charming, well structured mystery. Anyone who loves mysteries should enjoy it.

The setting is Laos, just after the fall of the constitutional monarchy in the mid-1970s. As the new communist regime takes power, they need a national coroner. A 72 year old Paris trained doctor, Siri, with years and years of jungle fighting and battlefield medicine in his background, gets the assignment. We are immediately attacted to his assistants, Nurse Dtui (fatty) and Mr. Geung. These are good people.

This first book in the series has Siri examining the cause of death of a major comrade's wife. Did the comrade do her in? Was there another woman who was jealous? We are taken through, step by step, Columbo-style, as the crime is solved. Secondly, there are several dead Vietnamese. How did this happen? Will there be a major international incident? Again, Siri solves it all.

Finally, and this is the really fun part, Siri must find the cause of death of several soldiers in the south. It is mystifying, apparently. Here we discover that Siri, unknown to himself until that moment, is apparently the reincarnation of an ancient Hmong shaman.

It just doesn't get any better. I loved this book and plan immediately to read the entire series. And, by the way, the author has a nice website where he discusses a number of contemporary educational issues in Laos. I recommend anyone who loves books to take a look.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: De-Lao-cious!
Comment: "Stop turning the pages so fast." Flip. "Slow down; make it last." Flip, flip. "It's going to end too soon!" Flip, flip, flip..... "Damn!"

Why only 5 stars available? Why not 10? Or 20? I read a LOT of books. This was special. Cotterill can truly write. He can tell a story. He can create a mystery.

But his characters! His characters are indescribably marvelous. Without taking page after page to tell everything about each of them you get to know them by their conversations, mannerisms and reactions to the events around them.

The dialog flows. It's the way people actually talk to one another. It's like you're sitting there listening in.

The author doesn't have to resort to foul language and gratuitous sex to move the story along. He keeps you guessing as mystery piles on top of mystery. He doesn't insult your intelligence, because it is intelligently written.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants an enjoyable read. I have just ordered the next three in the series.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An exceptional mystery
Comment: This book is throughly enjoyable. The characters are very beliveable and compelling. The novel gives one a real glimpse of what life in Laos is like now. The plot was complex but convincing and the resolution was highly satisfying.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinary Book
Comment: I was hesitant at first to read The Coroner's Lunch as I had never really preferred procedural police mysteries. But I am so glad I did! The writing is light but the imagery is rich and dense. I was immediately and completely immersed in a world I have never been but seemed very real from the page. The humor is dry and subversive - I caught myself several times laughing out loud when I least expected it. There is a spiritual component and at first I was skeptical of whether it would fit in with the wit and realism of the rest of the writing but the writer successfully melds both with a delicate deftness. When I finished this book I couldn't wait to read the next in the series! Thankfully, there are several more.

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