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A review by kbogdano80
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
4.0
Dr. Siri Paiboun is a 72-year old doctor and coroner in Laos. All Siri wants at this stage is to retire with a cup of coffee and his own garden. But the year is 1976 and Laos has fallen under the new communist regime whose motto states that every "comrade" be put to work until he or she can't contribute anymore. So Siri reports to the morgue each morning, halfheartedy working on bodies with limited supplies and the aid of his two assistants, Dtui and Mr. Geung. The job is dull until a consecutive string of bodies (including the wife of a prominent Party member)shows up. They're all very much dead but no one can determine how they came to be so. Quite suddenly Siri finds himself going from reluctant coroner to unexpected investigator.
I really liked this book. It reminded me of a mixture of Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe series and Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, but brought its own unique flavor. I love books set in exotic locales that I'm not familiar with. I felt like I learned a lot about the politics and culture of Laos. I also really enjoyed the mystery, which was interesting and engaging throughout and had me guessing until the very end.
And most of all the book is seriously funny. Dr. Siri has a wonderful, wry, wicked sense of humor. He's easy to like and root for. I also really liked the style and humor of his two morgue assistants.
The only thing that struck me as a bit jarring is all the focus on local lore and spirits. Our protagonist sees dead people. It's mostly while he's sleeping so it's never really clear whether he actually can or if it's his mind working out problems and details while his body rests. Kind of weird but it did help him solve pertinent issues of the mystery, so I could let it go. I had a bit more trouble with the theory that he's a thousand year old shaman capable of exorcising evil spirits, which was the focus of two chapters in the book.
Despite these minor issues, this is definitely a series that I will be continuing.
I really liked this book. It reminded me of a mixture of Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe series and Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, but brought its own unique flavor. I love books set in exotic locales that I'm not familiar with. I felt like I learned a lot about the politics and culture of Laos. I also really enjoyed the mystery, which was interesting and engaging throughout and had me guessing until the very end.
And most of all the book is seriously funny. Dr. Siri has a wonderful, wry, wicked sense of humor. He's easy to like and root for. I also really liked the style and humor of his two morgue assistants.
The only thing that struck me as a bit jarring is all the focus on local lore and spirits. Our protagonist sees dead people. It's mostly while he's sleeping so it's never really clear whether he actually can or if it's his mind working out problems and details while his body rests. Kind of weird but it did help him solve pertinent issues of the mystery, so I could let it go. I had a bit more trouble with the theory that he's a thousand year old shaman capable of exorcising evil spirits, which was the focus of two chapters in the book.
Despite these minor issues, this is definitely a series that I will be continuing.