This mystery is part of the Dr. Siri Paiboun series. Dr Siri is the national coroner of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos. He is ordered to the mountains of Huaphan Province, where an arm is found sticking out of the concrete walk that was laid from the President’s former cave hideout to his new house beneath the cliffs. Dr Siri identifies the corpse as a Cuban soldier who had supposedly been sent home which leads to allegations of ritual murder, a tragic love story, and an encounter with a huge number of spirits in the cave hall being prepared for a government celebration. A side plot involves the faithful morgue assistant, Geung, being taken by soldiers to a location hundreds of miles away on the orders of a party boss who dislikes the idea of a man with Down's Syndrome working for the national morgue. Geung is so worried about neglecting his duties he begins to walk home, suffering injuries and illness along the way before arriving back at the morgue seriously ill with a mosquito born disease. In spite of the serious subject matter, this book, and the rest of the series, is full of humor and the wonderful characters.
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