Kara brought me an ARC of this book a bit ago. I kept putting off reading it because it is the last Dr. Siri mystery and I was afraid of how it would end, after all the dear doctor is an elderly gentleman. No spoilers but Dr. Siri receives a mysterious diary from an unknown sender. It was apparently written by a kamikaze pilot during the World War II Japanese occupation of Laos. Siri is intrigued by the diary, half in Japanese which he cannot read, and half in Lao. He and his wife, Madame Daeng, coerce a U.N, worker into taking them along to southern Laos to solve the mystery and find a Japanese translator. In the meantime their friend Inspector Phosy finds himself held hostage while on a police mission. Without giving things away, Madame Daeng's use of her old spy/commando skills come into play in a side plot involving the U.N. worker. And of course, Dr. Siri''s contact with the spirit world gives clues to a possible ending. To be honest, this is not my favorite book in the series. It seems to be lacking some of the humor of the previous novels but it is the last.
