Curse of the Pogo Stick

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616951206
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
The fifth Dr. Siri Paiboun mystery Seven female Hmong villagers kidnap Dr. Siri on orders from the village elder who hopes that Yeh Ming, the thousand-year-old shaman who shares the doctor’s body, will consent to exorcise the headman’s daughter. He fears that her soul has been possessed by a demon due to the curse of a mysterious Western artifact. Siri agrees to help and, in so doing, brings to pass a prediction of Auntie Bpoo, a transvestite fortune-teller.

The Coroner's Lunch

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616959916
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Book Description
ALL-TIME BESTSELLER: The first “wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery” starring septuagenarian coroner Dr. Siri, who finds himself caught in the political intrigues and mystical underpinnings of 1970s Laos (New York Times Book Review). 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.

Anarchy and Old Dogs

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616951192
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Book Description
The fourth Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery When a blind former dentist is run over by a truck, Dr. Siri Paiboun, the reluctant national coroner of Laos, suspects that this was no traffic accident. A coded message in invisible ink is recovered from the dentist’s body, and Dr. Siri begins to follow clues that hint at deep—and dangerous—political intrigue. Dr. Siri only intended to investigate a murder; is he now being drawn into an insurrection? Will he, as a fortune teller predicts, betray his country?

The Merry Misogynist

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616951214
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Book Description
In poverty-stricken 1978 Laos, a man with a truck from the city was “somebody,” a catch for even the prettiest village virgin. The corpse of one of these bucolic beauties turns up in Dr. Siri’s morgue and his curiosity is piqued. The victim was tied to a tree and strangled but she had not, as the doctor had expected, been raped, although her flesh had been torn. And though the victim had clear, pale skin over most of her body, her hands and feet were gnarled, callused, and blistered. On a trip to the hinterlands, Siri discovers that the beautiful female corpse bound to a tree has already risen to the status of a rural myth. This has happened many times before. He sets out to investigate this unprecedented phenomenon—a serial killer in peaceful Buddhist Laos—only to discover when he has identified the murderer that not only pretty maidens are at risk. Seventy-three-year-old coroners can be victims, too.

Disco for the Departed

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616951184
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
Dr Siri Paiboun, reluctant national coroner of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos, is summoned to a remote location in the mountains of Huaphan Province, where for years the leaders of the current government had hidden out in caves, waiting to assume power. Now, as a major celebration of the new regime is scheduled to take place, an arm is found protruding from the concrete walk that had been laid from the President’s former cave hideout to his new house beneath the cliffs. Dr Siri is ordered to supervise the disinterment of the body attached to the arm, identify the corpse, and discover how he died.

Six and a Half Deadly Sins

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616955597
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Book Description
Laos, 1979: Dr. Siri Paiboun, the twice retired ex-National Coroner of Laos, receives an unmarked package in the mail. Inside is a handwoven pha sin, a colorful traditional skirt worn in northern Laos. A lovely present, but who sent it to him, and why? And, more importantly, why is there a severed human finger stitched into the sin’s lining? Siri is convinced someone is trying to send him a message and won’t let the matter rest until he’s figured it out. He finagles a trip up north to the province where the sin was made, not realizing he is embarking on a deadly scavenger hunt. Meanwhile, the northern Lao border is about to erupt into violence—and Dr. Siri and his entourage are walking right into the heart of the conflict.

Don't Eat Me

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 161695941X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
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 unknown woman seems to be recent, the flesh on her corpse has been picked off in places as if something—or someone—has been gnawing on the bones. The plot Siri and his friends uncover involves much more than a single set of skeletal remains.

Love Songs from a Shallow Grave

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616951222
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Book Description
The seventh Dr. Siri Paiboun mystery When a Lao female security officer is discovered stabbed through the heart with a fencing sword, Dr. Siri, the reluctant national coroner for the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos, is brought in to examine the body. Soon two other young women are found killed in the same unusual way. Siri learns that all three victims studied in Europe and that one of them was being pursued by a mysterious stalker. But before he can solve the case, he is whisked away to Cambodia on a diplomatic mission. Though on the surface the Khmer Rouge seem to be committed to the socialist cause, Siri soon learns the horrifying truth of the killing fields and finds himself thrown into prison. Can the seventy-four-year-old doctor escape with his life?

I Shot the Buddha

Author: Colin Cotterill
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1616957239
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Book Description
A fiendishly clever mystery in which Dr. Siri and his friends investigate three interlocking murders—and the ungodly motives behind them Laos, 1979: Retired coroner Siri Paiboun and his wife, Madame Daeng, have never been able to turn away a misfit. As a result, they share their small Vientiane house with an assortment of homeless people, mendicants, and oddballs. One of these oddballs is Noo, a Buddhist monk, who rides out on his bicycle one day and never comes back, leaving only a cryptic note in the refrigerator: a plea to help a fellow monk escape across the Mekhong River to Thailand. Naturally, Siri can’t turn down the adventure, and soon he and his friends find themselves running afoul of Lao secret service officers and famous spiritualists. Buddhism is a powerful influence on both morals and politics in Southeast Asia. In order to exonerate an innocent man, they will have to figure out who is cloaking terrible misdeeds in religiosity.

Curse of the Spider Queen... and Other Family Tales

Author: JR McGarrity
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 035914960X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Book Description
A huge earthquake opens deep fracking water contaminated caverns and a huge spider creature with the head of a woman and the sting of a scorpion crawls up from the abyss and begins terrorizing and stinging and eating and killing the locals. Ground zero for the humongous chasm in the earth is the old funeral parlor owned by the family of the local sheriff, Jake Trapper. And, amazingly, not so coincidentally, the head of the giant spider woman thing bears a striking resemblance to his long lost cousin, Sara, who vanished in her thirteenth summer, some fifteen years prior, off the face of the planet. Jake Trapper must deal with his own recurring nightmares regarding his missing cousin; conquer his fear of spiders, while all the while attempting to save his relationship with the fiery woman he loves, Ellie. Attempting to mirror the world we live in, my tale explores, depicts, includes: gay, heterosexual, LGBT, even cross-species extraterrestrial characters- all of course, intended in good fun.