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A series featuring a retired physician-turned-coroner who solves mysteries with a cast of recurring eccentric characters – sounds very cozy. But there's something novel and adventurous about importing those familiar elements into 1970s Laos, where the nations of Southeast Asia are playing "French farce" diplomacy (in the words one character who is a seasoned diplomat), forming and breaking alliances with one another in the wake of the Vietnam War. Of course, those who have followed this series from its original premise in THE CORONER'S LUNCH to this tenth installment will be used to the dizzying effect of mixing multiple mysteries, seasoning them with exotic spices, and reinventing the village mystery as a Laotian delight. Those who haven't – what have you been waiting for?
In this adventure, Dr. Siri Paiboun, reluctant and now retired coroner for the nation of Laos has received a mysterious package: a handwoven pha sin, a traditional skirt worn in the far north of the country. Sewn into the hem of garment there's a severed human finger – a message that Siri can't resist. Who lost their finger? How did it end up in the weaving? And why was it sent to Dr. Siri? He and his wife head north, where the first sin leads to another, and another – each of them offering a clue in a kind of scavenger hunt, one that's physically taxing on the elderly couple and, at times, very dangerous.
Things aren't what they seem up north. Inspector Phosy, one of Siri's close friends, has been sent there to investigate the death of two village headmen in an area where the Chinese are building roads that will be handy when they invade Vietnam, which has recently invaded their ally, Cambodia. As usual Cotterill skewers the venality of global politics and government bureaucracies with an unrelenting barrage of humor while showing real problems that arise when people succumb to basic human vices. As usual, the author has some surprises up his sleeve, right up to the final sentence.
Though Cotterill uses elements of the cozy mystery tradition – a light touch with violence, a cast of recurring eccentrics, a resiliently sunny disposition in the face of murder, and an amateur protagonist who knows his little community well and never indulges in angst – there's really nothing like them. Certainly for readers whose only exposure to Southeast Asia is through the narrative of the American experience in the Vietnam War, Cotterill's view of the world from a Laotian perspective is endlessly enlightening about serious matters, while being often hilarious.
§ Barbara Fister is an academic librarian, columnist, and author of the Anni Koskinen mystery series.
Reviewed by Barbara Fister, June 2015
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