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A review by eososray
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
4.0
In 1975 Laos, the Communist Pathet Lao has come to power and all the qualified coroner’s have escaped the country, so 72 year old Dr. Siri Paiboun is appointed despite his lack of training in this area. When Mrs. Nitnoy, powerful leader of the Laos Women's Union and wife of Member of Parliament Kham dies unexpectedly her body is sent to the coroner’s office for examination. Despite her husband’s insistence that she died of eating raw pork, Dr. Siri suspects the death is not that simple.
This book made me laugh so many times. Dr. Siri is an irreverent old man, determined to do things his way and ridiculous party politics aren’t going to get in his way. The setting was part of the story and the mystery in so many ways, that it was impossible not to get the feel for what it must have been like. There was a mystical part that didn’t appeal to me but it didn’t detract from the overall tale. The other characters; from the nurse and helper in the coroner’s office, the police officer, the Vietnamese coroner and the other hospital employees are all depicted well and add a lot to the story.
This book made me laugh so many times. Dr. Siri is an irreverent old man, determined to do things his way and ridiculous party politics aren’t going to get in his way. The setting was part of the story and the mystery in so many ways, that it was impossible not to get the feel for what it must have been like. There was a mystical part that didn’t appeal to me but it didn’t detract from the overall tale. The other characters; from the nurse and helper in the coroner’s office, the police officer, the Vietnamese coroner and the other hospital employees are all depicted well and add a lot to the story.