Colin Cotterill Colin Cotterill brings a welcome spin to mysteries featuring a sleuthing medical examiner in his Siri Paiboun novels. Rather than rely upon a familiar Western setting, Cotterill transplants the genre to 1970s Asia, mixing mystery with politics, mysticism, and themes such as international relations, government bureaucracy and racism. Cotterill’s witty and fast paced narratives are not only filled with cultural insight, but also feature compelling characters, particularly his clever protagonist, Laotian National Coroner Siri Paiboun. He is a reluctant communist and (even more reluctant) national coroner. The 72 year-old uses forensic deduction, spirit intuition, and old-fashioned sleuthing to figure out any suspicious deaths that come his way. Finding his charming characters and crisply plotted narratives in these mysteries with an educational undercurrent, readers will enjoy Cotterill’s works. (Novelist)
About the Author: Colin Cotterill was born in London in 1952 and taught and trained teachers around the world before settling in Thailand. He spent several years in Laos, initially with UNESCO, before he moved on to become involved in child protection in the region and set up a non-governmental organization in Phuket. He later moved on to ECPAT, an international organization combating child prostitution and pornography. Colin writes and illustrates full time, and lives in Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand with his wife, Jessi, and a bunch of dogs. He is a Dilys Award winner.
Colin Cotterill’s home page: http://www.colincotterill.com/home.html
Listen to NPR audio interview: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93590413
Wikipedia link on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Cotterill
There are seven so far in the series including:
The Coroner’s Lunch Seventy-two-year-old Dr. Siri Paiboun, a coroner in Laos, confronts shamans, dreams, conversations with the dead, and an international cover-up, in his attempts to solve a series of murders of Vietnamese soldiers and the wife of a party leader.
Reviews: "This series kickoff is an embarrassment of riches: Holmesian sleuthing, political satire, and [a] droll comic study of a prickly late bloomer."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The sights, smells, and colors of Laos practically jump of the pages of this inspired, often wryly witty first novel."-"Denver Post
"A wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery. . . . If Cotterill . . . had done nothing more than treat us to Siri's views on the dramatic, even comic crises that mark periods of government upheaval, his debut mystery would still be fascinating. But the multiple cases spread out on Siri's examining table . . . are not cozy entertainments, but substantial crimes that take us into the thick of political intrigue."-"The New York Times Book Review”
"In Siri, Cotterill has created a detective as distinctive as Maigret or Poirot."-"Orlando Sentinel"
"The author gives us exotic locations; a world that few of us know well; crisp, intelligent, and often-witty writing; and, most of all, a hero unlike any other." -"The Philadelphia Inquirer"
Thirty-three Teeth Dr Siri Paiboun has rather enjoyed his first five months in office. Now, as hot-season nights close in, Siri is spirited away from Laos' steamy capital on a Matter of National Security. Arriving in Luang Prabang, he's a busy man, examining carbonized corpses, dining with the deposed king and being rescued by the ghost of an elephant.
Disco for the Departed Coroner Siri Paiboun must identify a corpse found near the mansion of the new Laotian president, an investigation which includes communication with the dead, sacrificial rituals, a marriage proposal, and strange disco music that only the doctor can hear.
Anarchy and Old Dogs When a blind, retired dentist is run down by a logging truck as he crosses the road to post a letter, Dr Siri Paiboun, official and only coroner of Laos, finds himself faced with his most explosive case yet. The dentist's mortal remains aren't nearly as intriguing as the letter in his pocket.
Curse of the Pogo Stick National Coroner Dr. Siri is kidnapped by Hmong villagers who want him to lift a curse from the headman's daughter.
The Merry Misogynist In peaceful Buddhist Laos, Dr. Siri confronts a deadly Casanova targeting lovely young women.
Love Songs from a Shallow Grave When a female security officer is discovered stabbed through the heart with a fencing sword, Dr. Siri's instincts tell him there is more to the mystery than anyone can imagine.
