This is the first book in the mystery series starring Dr. Siri Paiboun, the chief medical examiner in Laos following the communist takeover in 1975. Dr. Siri is conscripted into the position at the age of 72 because the "only doctor with a background in performing autopsies had crossed the river" to Thailand. Business is booming with a poisoned official's wife, the bodies of three torture victims, a looming international incident with Vietnam, and the mysterious deaths of officials in charge of forest clearing project in a northern Hmong region. Things get really serious when there is an attempt on the doctor's life. In spite of it all, Siri handles his job and combats the bumbling bureaucrats with intelligence, sarcasm, wry observations and the assistance of his two helpers, Geung and nurse Dtui. At an age when he thought he would be living quietly on a pension, the doctor is investigating political coverups, dealing with tribal spirits, and finding a bit a romance with the woman who makes his lunch. This was my introduction to the Dr. Siri series but I have enjoyed Cotterill's work through the Jimm Juree mystery series.
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