Search results for ""Author Colin Cotterill""

Between getting into a tangle with a corrupt local judge, and discovering a disturbing black-market business, Dr. Siri and Inspector Phosy have their hands full in the thirteenth installment of Colin Cotterill''s quirky, critically acclaimed series.Dr. Siri Paiboun, the 75-year-old ex-national coroner of Laos, may have more experience dissecting bodies than making art, but now that he’s managed to smuggle a fancy movie camera into the country, he devises a plan to shoot a Lao adaptation of War and Peace with his friend Civilai. The only problem? The Ministry of Culture must approve the script before they can get rolling. That, and they can’t figure out how to turn on the camera.Meanwhile, the skeleton of a woman has appeared under the Anusawari Arch in the middle of the night. Siri puts his directorial debut on hold and assists his friend Phosy, the newly promoted Senior Police Inspector, with the ensuing investigation. Though the death of the

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Dr Siri's bagged himself a holiday: an all-expenses-paid trip to the northern mountains of Laos. What's more, through a bit of skilful bartering (well, blackmail) he has wangled it so that his nearest and dearest may accompany him. They are to assist a US-funded search for a lost CIA pilot - Boyd Bowry - missing since his aircraft was downed in 1968. But Siri's not taking the search too seriously, as he strongly suspects that when the helicopter exploded, the pilot followed suit. However, just hours into the trip, it becomes apparent that ulterior motives are at work within the group. And Siri's suspicions are confirmed when those associated with the airman start dropping like the insects that frequent his country. Siri and co are caught up in something big: something that goes way back, and way over their heads. And, if this wasn't bad enough, a psychic of unquestionable repute then informs Siri that he will shortly die: in 'a day or two', to be precise.

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When crime reporter Jimm Juree is forced to follow her family from Chiang Mai to a fishing village on the Gulf of Siam, she's convinced her career is over. Her journalism will surely dwindle to reports on the annual monsoon-induced floods, for what crimes could possibly happen in such an out-of-the-way place? A local palm oil plantation owner and his worker are excavating a well. They dig down six feet and hit metal. It turns out to be the roof of an old Volkswagen combi, which, once unearthed, is found to contain two skeletons - one of them wearing a hat. A monk is murdered in Lang Suan, the nearest town. There is apparently no motive for the killing and no suspects are found. But there are odd connections between this killing and several others. Suddenly Jimm's new life becomes somewhat more promising - and a great deal more dangerous.

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Intrepid coroner Dr Siri is used to playing the lead in the dramas of his life. But this time his wife is centre stage. Madame Daeng is privy to a secret and it puts her in grave danger. And that's not all. When Siri whisks his wife away for a romantic weekend they walk straight into another mystery, meeting a woman who's been shot twice but is still clinging to life. Who would want to kill her and why? Dr Siri will have his work cut out to unravel this case, while keeping Madame Daeng away from those who want to harm her. But he soon discovers there's much more to his wife than meets the eye...

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Somebody in Laos is wooing and wedding country girls - and then killing them on honeymoon and binding their bodies to trees. The horror of what this monster does to his victims appals Dr Siri and his morgue team and they vow revenge. But they're distracted by the disappearance of itinerant Crazy Rajid. Siri has been getting premonitions that he's in danger. A trail of elaborate clues and remarkable disclosures about the Indian's past lead them to Vientiane's most ancient temple - and a terrible discovery.

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On the gulf of Thailand, the Juree family are managing their run-down beach resort for the second year - still stalked by disaster. Daughter Jimm has a new love in her life, but finds herself pursued by another man with a markedly different agenda in mind. Meanwhile, Jimm's new case is that of Dr. Somluk, a champion of the rights of rural mothers, who is missing following a run-in with the marketeers of infant formula. As ever, there is blood, brine and bedlam aplenty at the Gulf Bay Lovely Resort.

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Dr Siri Paiboun may be in his seventy-third year, but he's still as sturdy as a jungle boar - and as crafty as one. Reluctant coroner to the Lao People's Democratic Republic, he's been despatched to the country's mountainous north where the sudden appearance of a mummified arm protruding from a concrete path laid in front of the President's new mansion has caused an understandable degree of embarrassment. Dr Siri's disinterment and autopsy of the body attached to the arm provide some grisly surprises but it is his gifts as a shaman that put the septuagenarian doctor on the trail of the killer. As Siri and his team close in, they must tackle a marriage proposal, brave the perils of the life on the open road, and come face-to-face with a horrific sacrificial ritual. Is it any wonder Dr Siri takes up disco dancing?

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Following a rash moment of insolence, Dr Siri Paiboun, Laos' reluctant national coroner, confused shaman and disheartened communist, is forced to go on a road trip with Judge Haeng and the Justice Department. While newly pregnant Nurse Dtui and Dr Siri's fiance Madame Daeng are left at the morgue to defend the staff against exploding corpses and geriatric gunslingers, Siri has his own problems. On a deserted jungle trail, Siri is kidnapped. His only route to freedom is to exorcise the local village of its demon - but that means lifting the curse of the pogo stick.

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What do you do when you find a severed head on the beach? With her former cop grandfather as back up, crime reporter Jimm Juree sets out to discover how the poor fellow got there. On their journey they uncover gruesome tales of piracy, slavery, violence and murder, yet the authorities show no interest at all. Is it because the victims aren't Thai? Whatever the reason, Jimm and her team are going it alone. Airport hostages and hand grenades, monkeys and naked policemen - once more the sublime and the ridiculous clash in the Gulf of Thailand.

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Against all his expectations, 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, attending a shamans' conference and being rescued by the ghost of an elephant. Not that Siri's complaining ...Luang Prabang is in mountains and a good fifteen degrees cooler. Meanwhile, back at Vientiane headquarters, it's hot. Bloody hot - savaged bodies are piling up in Siri's absence. Is it the missing black bear from the circus, or could it be a weretiger? Siri's trusty assistant Nurse Dtui goes snooping but, unlike her boss, the spirits aren't looking out for her...And just what creature, if any, has thirty-three teeth?

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As usual, all is abnormal in Dr Siri Paiboun's morgue in downtown Vientiane. Siri and his team are investigating the case of the Three Epees: three women skewered by a sword through their hearts. A culprit has been apprehended, tried and sentenced to death in a week's time. But Siri isn't sure they have the right man. Unfortunately, the number one, and only, coroner of Laos isn't in a position to help anyone - not even himself. As his 74th birthday dawns, Siri finds himself incarcerated in prison by the Khymer Rouge, facing torture and starvation. As usual, his curiosity is to blame for his predicament, but this time it looks as though his inquisitiveness could be the end of him. Could Dr Siri's next outing be from beyond the grave?

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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. Written in invisible ink and encrypted, the letter presents Dr Siri with an irresistible challenge. Enlisting the help of his old friend, Civilai, now a senior member of the Laos politburo; Nurse Dtui ('Fatty'); Phosy, a police officer; and Aunt Bpoo, a transvestite fortune-teller, Dr Siri soon finds himself on the trail of an international plot to overthrow the government of Laos.

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Laos, 1976. The monarchy has been deposed, the Communist Pathet Lao have taken over. Most of the educated class has fled, but Dr Siri Paiboun, a Paris-trained doctor remains. And so this 72-year-old physician is appointed state coroner, despite having no training, equipment, experience or even inclination for the job. But the job's not that bad and Siri quickly settles into a routine of studying outdated medical texts, scrounging scarce supplies, and circumnavigating bureaucratic red tape to arrive at justice. The fact that the recently departed are prone to pay Siri the odd, unwanted nocturnal visit turns out to be an added bonus in his new line of work. But when the wife of a party leader turns up dead and the bodies of tortured Vietnamese soldiers start bobbing to the surface of a Laotian lake, all eyes turn to Siri. Faced with official cover-ups and an emerging international crisis, the doctor enlists old friends, village shamans, forest spirits, dream visits from the dead - and even the occasional bit of medical deduction - to solve the crimes.

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