The Coroner's Lunch

Rating:
Summary: THE MAIGRET OF THE MEKHONG
Review: This was, unquestionably, the best mystery novel I read in 2004. It is thoroughly original and very enjoyable. Let us hope it is not the last from Colin Cotterill. In Dr. Siri Paiboun, he has created one of the most engaging sleuths to come along since Joe Leaphorn. The setting is exotic; Laos shortly after the Pathet Lao came to power in the mid 70's.

The elderly Paiborn has been "rewarded" for his decades of field service as a doctor caring for wounded revolutionaries in the nothern jungle by being made chief (and sole) coroner of Laos. Siri has no training or experience in forensic medicine. His autopsy lab has primitive equipment left behind by the French and no chemical supplies. His assistants are a man with Down's Syndrome and a nurse who spends her free time studying pop culture magazines. To complicate matters further, Siri has begun to see apparitions -- mostly of dead people.

Siri gets his first real challenge when the wife of a high party official is poisoned. As Siri wrestles with this and other problems, Cotterill treats the reader to a painless short course in the geography, culture, and political milieu of Laos at a turning point in its history.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing, atmospheric new series features Laotian coroner
Review: A British author who lives in Thailand, Cotterill introduces 72-year-old Dr. Siri Paiboun, Laos' reluctant state coroner, a man whose dead subjects visit his dreams. It's 1975 and the new communist government doesn't have much in the way of equipment or supplies. But Siri's job is merely to follow orders and provide an appropriate cause of death.

He is not expected to do any investigating when the wife of a powerful official suddenly dies, or three Vietnamese bodies turn up tortured and drowned, putting a delicate international relationship in jeopardy, and military commanders near a Hmong village begin meeting mysterious deaths. But Siri's rebellious streak flares up, as it always has, and, with a little help from new friends and old colleagues, he pursues each case to its end.

The plot takes a spooky turn in the middle, which is at first disconcerting, but develops into an added dimension to the already haunted Dr. Siri. Siri is a complex, enjoyable character: an old man who'd like to retire, but won't be shunted aside or intimidated; a lonely man with a melancholy side, balanced by sympathy, humor and zest for life; a good communist with a spiritual gift and an irreverent independence.

The setting and atmosphere draw you into Siri's world, where shortages and repression are challenges to circumvent and people are the focus. A wonderful debut.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best mystery novels of the year
Review: Colin Cotterill's "The Coroner's Lunch" proved to be a gem of a find and a treat of a read. It's a bit hard to classify this book because while it deals with serious themes of murder and corruption, it is also written in almost light hearted and witty manner, full of irreverent humour, and with a slight mystical overtone. But once you start "The Coroner's Lunch," it is really hard to put this book down: swiftly paced with a few disparate subplots that seem unconnected, "The Coroner's Lunch" was completely unputdownble.

Set in Laos (once part of Indochine) and in 1975, "The Coroner's Lunch" follows the fortunes of Dr. Siri Paiboum, a Paris trained doctor, who joined the communist party and who has been fighting with them in the jungle, for the sake of the love of his life, his wife Boua. When the novel opens, the fight is over, the communists have won and Siri is now a 70-something year old widower, who is entertaining hopes of a well deserved retirement. Of course things don't go according to plan: because of a lack of trained professionals (most seemed to have fled the country), Siri is informed that he is now the state's only coroner even though he knows next to nothing about performing autopsies. Knowing that declining the privilege is not an option, our reluctant coroner soon finds himself fitted up less than properly equipped morgue and the help of one nurse, Dtui (who is fortunately quite intelligent) and an amiable man of all jobs, Geung, who has Down's Syndrome. Together all three seem to shuffle along adequately and happily. That is until the wife of an important official turns up dead at the morgue. The husband claims that his wife probably died of food poisoning (she liked eating raw fish), but something about the lady's death troubles Siri -- the rush to pronounce her death an accidental one, and the claiming of her body before a proper autopsy can be performed, together with Siri's vision of the dead woman's spirit (yes, the doctor sees ghosts), convinces Siri that the lady was murdered. Siri is determined to discover who murdered the lady and why, but before he can get around to investigation further, he's called upon to perform another autopsy (this time one that could have serious international consequences), and then later to investigate a series of bizarre deaths up North. Suddenly it seems to be raining dead bodies -- or could someone be trying to keep Siri from further investigation the death of the important official's wife...

I've been rather lucky lately: nearly every book I've picked up to read, I've found to be well written, clever, witty and a really enjoyable read. In fact I'm beginning to wonder when this string of good luck will wear out! "The Coroner's Lunch" was one of my lucky finds. And I do hope that Kirkus review that claims this book to be the first in a series is right: I'm already counting the months to the next Dr. Siri installment. Simply everything pleased about this book: from the clever, mystical storyline; to the witty and humourous prose style; to the completely engaging and likable protagonist, Dr. Siri Paiboum. Brilliantly building on the suspense by mounting one subplot on top of the other, Colin Cotterill cleverly leads us deeper and deeper into the heart of the novel. So if you're looking for a completely absorbing, engrossing and engaging read, look no further: "The Coroner's Lunch" is it. One of the best reads of the year.

Rating:
Summary: A good reading experience
Review: In 1975 the Pathet Lao takes over Laos incorporating a communist bureaucracy centered from the capitol at Vientiane. Most of the country's intelligentsia fled but septuagenarian Paris trained physician Dr. Siri Paiboun remains behind expecting to gently retire. However, the new government names Siri state coroner. He deduces this was done because his superiors like Magistrate Haeng expect him to make no waves since he was the last breathing medical doctor still in country.

Though Comrade Haeng tortures Siri with his required "burden sharing tutorials" that questions the obvious, the doctor shockingly takes his job seriously seeking the truth even when the brass wants heart attack as cause of death regardless of reality. He upsets the party with his inquires into the death of Comrade Kham's wife as Haeng claims food poisoning. Siri further upsets the communist balance with his deeper look at the accidental deaths of three men who show signs of torture in spite of being food for fish. Finally the suicide of Mai seems a fake to hide homicide. As Haeng harangues, Siri sets things right.

Readers who enjoy mysteries in other lands will fully appreciate this delightful tale. The story line provides a deep look at Laos as the Communist Party transitions into power with Siri applying logic to solve cases that his by the book superior wants buried. With the help of dreams that enable the hero to humorously organize his cases, his life, and his society, Siri is a terrific protagonist. His wry comments and asides satirizes his plight as a not so indoctrinated Communist who joined five decades because of how a woman who became his wife breathed. THE CORONER'S LUNCH is a winner due to him.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Wonderful characters and sense of place
Review: This is a marvelous book in which the mystery, while a worthy one, is secondary to the personality of its protagonist, Dr. Siri, and to the setting, post-revolutionary Laos. I was immediately drawn in by both as Cotterill's disarmigly casual prose revealed a depth of character and an understanding of a culture, each charmingly idiosynchratic, not often found in any genre. I'm delighted that this will be part of a new Soho crime series and happy to add Cotterill to other of my Soho favorites such as Lovesey, Pawel and Qiu Xiaolong. Excellent read!