Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch (USA 2015)

From the Publisher:
The First Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery
Laos, 1978: Dr. Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old medical doctor, has unwillingly been appointed the national coroner of the new socialist Laos. His lab is underfunded, his boss is incompetent, and his support staff is quirky, to say the least. But Siri's sense of humor gets him through his often frustrating days. When the body of the wife of a prominent politician comes through his morgue, Siri has reason to suspect the woman has been murdered. To get to the truth, Siri and his team face government secrets, spying neighbors, victim hauntings, Hmong shamans, botched romances, and other deadly dangers. Somehow, Siri must figure out a way to balance the will of the party and the will of the dead.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch. The First Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery Set in Laos. Soho, ISBN: 9781616956493 (April, 2015), 257 p., $9.99.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch (UK 2010)

From the Publisher:
Life has taken a funny turn for Siri Paiboun. After years in obscurity, his country needs him. He is to be their only coroner. Because he's the only doctor left.

It's not as flattering as it could be, and when one of the leaders' wives turns up in his hot, shabby, smelly morgue, and he's expected to solve her murder, things take a turn for the worse. He has no experience, training or equipment to speak of, and his only hope are his two trusty assistants - neither of whom know anything either - and his own mental resources.

As if this weren't enough, the tortured bodies of several soldiers start floating to the surface of a lake and this second case is even more politically charged than his first. Only Siri's wit, charm and sense of the ridiculous will get him through this...

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch. A Dr. Siri Murder Mystery. Quercus, ISBN: 9781849165181 (April, 2010), 257 p., £12.99.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch (UK 2007)

From the Publisher:
Despite a total lack of training, an utter dearth of experience and a complete absence of inclination, Dr Siri Paiboun has just been appointed state coroner for the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

It's 1976, the royal family has been deposed, the professional classes have fled and the communists have taken over. And 72-year old Siri - a communist for convenience (he embraced the Red Flag only as a prerequisite to embracing his dear but departed wife), and a wry old reprobate by nature - has got the coroner's job because he's the only doctor left in Laos.

But when the wife of a Party leader is wheeled into the morgue and the bodies of tortured Vietnamese soldiers start bobbing to the surface of a Laotian lake, all eyes turn to the new coroner. Faced with official cover-ups and an emerging international crisis, Siri will be forced to enlist old friends, tribal shamans, forensic deduction, spiritual acumen and some good old-fashioned sleuthing before he can discover quite what's going on.

Colin Cotterill's sparkling debut introduces the most engaging detective to grace the genre in years. Few - if any - characters in modern crime fiction can match the benign humour, the gentle wisdom and the sheer bloody-mindedness of Dr Siri Paboun.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch. Quercus, ISBN: 1847240690 (June, 2007), 257 p., £7.99.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch (USA 2005)

From the Publisher:
Dr. Siri Paiboun, one of the last doctors left in Laos after the Communist takeover, has been drafted to be the national coroner. He is untrained for the job, but this independent 72-year-old has an outstanding qualification for it: curiosity. And he doesn't mind incurring the wrath of the Party hierarchy as he unravels mysterious murders, because the spirits of the dead are on his side.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch. Soho, ISBN: 1569474184 (November, 2005), 257 p., $14.00.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch (USA 2004)

From the Publisher:
Laos, 1972. The Communist Pathet Lao has taken over this former French colony. Most of the educated class has fled, but Dr. Siri Paiboun, a Paris-trained doctor whose late wife had been an ardent Communist, remains. And so this 72-year-old physician is appointed state coroner, despite the fact that he has no training or even supplies to use in performing his new task. What he does have is curiosity and integrity. At his age he is not about to let a bunch of ignorant bureaucrats dictate to him. One of his first cases involves three bodies recovered from a reservoir, but Dr. Siri establishes that the cause of death was not drowning. These men seem to have been electrocuted, perhaps tortured, and they also seem to be Vietnamese, which could have international repercussions. And then there is the inexplicable death of a Party bigwig's equally important wife. She collapsed and died at a banquet. But Dr. Siri doesn't think her death was from natural causes. In the course of his investigations, Dr. Siri must travel to his birthplace, a Hmong village he has not visited for more than 60 years, where he makes a profound discovery, not only about the motive for several murders, but about himself.

Colin Cotterill: The Coroner's Lunch. A Novel. Soho, ISBN: 1569473765 (December, 2004), 257 p., $24.00.