Category Archives: Laos

Review: Thirty Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill

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I find I cannot provide you a sensible synopsis of this book, at least not without giving away plot spoilers and/or jokes that Cotterill tells far better than I ever could. Suffice it to say that we’re in Laos in the late 1970′s and are once again sharing an adventure of Dr Siri Paiborn, the reluctant national coroner. In rapid succession his morgue becomes temporary home to two men who appear to have died in a bizarre bicycle accident and then a woman who may have been mauled to death by a bear. Dr Siri is then whisked away to another province where two charred bodies await his attention while his able assistant Nurse Dtui investigates the large animal population of Vientiane. Along the way there are subversive puppets, a plethora of spirit beings, a cursed box and a really cranky neighbour.

Like the first book in this series Thirty Three Teeth displays an almost absurd humour throughout. It’s the sort of humour that makes me giggle sneakily to myself as if I’m the only one in on the joke and the truly delightful thing is that I enjoyed it both at the time I read it then again hours (or days) later when one of the funny scenes replayed itself in my memory. Just like the old TV show Yes Minister it’s also the sort of humour that at first appears to describe a surreal fiction, such as the new government’s attempts to banish all spirits from the country, but isn’t quite so funny when you realise it’s probably not that far from the truth after all (I write this as my own government is putting the finishing touches to its latest ”protect the children’ legislation which will introduce a national internet filter to our once proud land).

Another standout feature of this particular tale is that we learn more of the back stories of some of the characters. In exactly the way that most chic lit doesn’t do, Dtui is revealed as the sort of heroine all women can admire. She has studied medicine by stealth since she was a young girl, looks after her ill mother in a most unselfish way and is as intrepid and dogged as the very best private eyes in detective fiction. Although he’s present we don’t see enough of Mr Geung, the morgue assistant who happens to have Downs Syndrome but isn’t wholly defined by it, in this book for my liking. However other likable characters do take on starring roles. My favourite of these is Detective Phosy who (sort of) helps Dtui and manages (just) not to die in the pursuit of his duties.

This is one of those books that I would recommend to everyone except perhaps the very, very literal. There’s a significant proportion that deals with what I call the ‘woo woo’ factor and for a few readers that will be off-putting. Dr Siri is the present host of an ancient spirit, Yeh Ming, with whom he has a somewhat tetchy relationship and in this book we do spend a fair amount of time watching him sort this out. I was happy to go along for the ride though I will admit it did just about reach my upper limit for strange happenings.

As with all the best humour, and the best crime fiction too, there’s something more than entertainment to be had here for those that want it. There’s a bigger message about it being a fairly sensible life philosophy to be good and kind to everyone and everything if for no other reason that you can never be quite sure they won’t have a chance to haunt you to an untimely death. Or you can just spend a few hours with a jolly big grin on your face.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating 4.5/5

Publisher: Quercus Fiction [2007]; ISBN:9781847243768; Length 244 pages; Setting: Laos, 1977

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

The first book in this series was one of my top ten books of last year and I reviewed it here.

Thirty Three Teeth has also been reviewed at Mysteries in Paradise, Euro Crime and Crime Scraps

Review: The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill

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Title: The Coroner’s Lunch (the first Dr Siri Investigation)

Author: Colin Cotterill (and he blogs here)

Publisher: Quercus [originally 2005?, this edition 2007]

ISBN: 978-1-84724-196-2

Length: 400 pages

Setting: Laos, 1976

Genre: Amateur sleuth

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating: 5/5

One-liner: An engaging, funny, staunchly un-categorisable book. With subversive puppets!

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

The book opens Laos in 1976. A fledgling Communist regime is in power for the first time and Dr Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old doctor and former warrior, has been appointed the country’s sole Coroner. He has no training for the role, most of the available books on the subject are in a language he doesn’t speak and he has little of the necessary equipment. Despite all this he’s required to investigate an assortment of peculiar deaths, including the wife of a Party Leader and what appear to be tortured Vietnamese soldiers. Helping Dr Siri are nurse (and wannabe trainee Coroner) Dtui, morgue assistant Mr Geung and the spirits of dead people who inhabit Dr Siri’s dreams.

The highlight of the book for me was the humour which has the same witty, haphazardly surreal quality as Douglas Adams’ writing. In the past I have lamented the lack of books with this kind of sensibility but I now realise it’s a terribly difficult thing to achieve and am simply grateful whenever I stumble across an example. I don’t re-read books very often but books like this, that offer something wonderful quite independent of their narrative, tend to make it to the shelf of books I re-acquaint myself with from time to time.

The characters are delightful too. Dr Siri is reluctant in his roles as communist and coroner though he performs the latter with increasing diligence. He treats the people he meets with the amount of respect and compassion each deserves and his struggle to cope with the supernatural aspect to his life is handled well (it’s a theme normally guaranteed to turn me off). There are a myriad of other players, major and minor, alive and not, good and evil, who are all equally well depicted and credible.

The book also offers a marvellous sense of time and place although I’m so woefully ignorant of this particular part of the world and its history that I’ve no clue if it’s a realistic depiction. For all I know it could be as much a production of Cotterill’s imagination as his protagonist’s corpse-inhabited dreams but, realistic or not, it’s a glimpse into a fascinating world.

For once the prominent blurb on my copy of The Coroner’s Lunch, which likens it to Alexander McCall Smith’s African series, isn’t wildly inaccurate. Dr Siri certainly shares characteristics with Mme Ramotswe of Smith’s series although I think the plot of this book is far more intricate and it tackles weightier social issues, albeit with a delicate touch and wry humour. I found myself wanting more of this writing and these people almost before I’d even finished and, happily for me, there are already five more books in the series. What joy I have to look forward to.

Other stuff

The Coroner’s Lunch is reviewed by Helen at It’s Criminal, Maxine at Euro Crime, Karen at Euro Crime.