Customer Reviews

Love Songs from a Shallow Grave: A Dr. Siri Investigation Set in Laos

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I love the Dr. Siri books. Who would have imagined that a hero would be a 75 year old coroner in 1978 communist Laos. But he is just wonderful. I also love all the side characters in these books. How wonderfully they are drawn and develop as the books evolve.

Having said that, I hope I interest someone in reading these fine books. You really should read the others first, but in many ways, this could stand by itself. There appears to be a serial killer in Laos, killing women using epees, or fencing swords. He clearly knows fencing and is strong (a straight thrust through the heart). Dr. Siri, as coroner gets involved, along with the usual crew of police and friends.

This book is darker than the others, as a side story (and how can this ever be a side story) involves flashes to what is clearly an imprisonment of Dr. Siri by the Khmer Rouge. As Dr. Siri learns the dark side of that awful time, the reader is appalled, along with him).

So, the two questions are, will he survive? And will he solve the fencing murders?

But more importantly, rumor has it that this might be the last book about Laos by the author. NOOOOO!

Another terrific book in the Siri Paiboun series from Colin Cotterill. I don't know which to praise first, but let's start with this book. The story interweaves two plots--one has the septegunarian, former revolutionary, Dr. Siri and his expanding team of fellow sleuths on the track of a serial killer whose chosen weapon is a fencing sword; the second has Dr. Siri in grave jeopardy at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime in newly communist Cambodia (Kampuchea). Both story lines are intelligent, intricate and totally engaging, and generally add up to a darker and more poignant novel than most of the previous Dr. Siri books. While there is little doubt that Siri and company will resolve the mystery of the murders, there is considerable doubt that Siri will survive execution as a spy by the vicious and politically cannibalistic Khmer Rouge. This is one of the best books in a very good series with a world-class story-line and characters that have melded into a literary family in this episode.

Moving on to the author, Colin Cotterill, his writing cannot be overpraised, in my opinion. He has developed some wonderful characters in a remote part of the globe and in a rather obscure period of time (for most Western readers, at least) circa 1977-78. But he has made the whole pastiche work beautifully and has certainly given a voice to a small and neglected segment of the world's population. He obviously has great admiration and respect--mixed with a healthy dose of realism--for the Laotian people as well as an impressive knowledge of the recent history of Indochina. But Cotterill could write wonderfully insightful fiction from just about anywhere, I suspect. His style is mature, his language clear and his sense of humanity for his characters is unfailing. This is a writer with a long and successful future ahead--part of which I sincerely hope will continue to include Dr. Siri Painboun.

Great read. Highly recommended.

Dr Siri Paiboun is being tormented by a recurring nightmare which ends in his death. But when he is awake, life goes on in its usual abnormal way in Laos. It's 1978 and Dr Siri is still the only coroner in Laos. Three women, each of whom has studied abroad in an Eastern bloc country, have been skewered on épées. Dr Siri and his trusty band are on the case.

But before he can solve the case, Dr Siri takes a trip to Cambodia and the world of the Khmer Rouge. Will Dr Siri survive? And will the case of the three épées be solved? Granted, it's hard to think about the case when Dr Siri is celebrating his 74th birthday in hell, but the flashbacks to Vientiane bring us up to date with Madame Daeng (Dr Siri's wife of three months), Nurse Dtui's motherhood and Mr Geung's new hairstyle.

It's difficult to say more about the novel without venturing into spoiler territory. So I'll confine myself to observing that while the wry humour that I've enjoyed in the preceding six Dr Siri novels is still present in parts, it is largely overshadowed by Dr Siri's incursion into the nightmare world of the Khmer Rouge. As Dr Siri realises, while wandering around the wasteland that was Phnom Penh, `If Big Brother could destroy literature and history, he could destroy lives.' Will Dr Siri survive his own insatiable curiosity?

This is the seventh Dr Siri mystery. It's worth reading them in order but not absolutely essential.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

It's 1978 and Dr. Siri Paiboun, Laos' chief and only coroner, is spending his 74th birthday "handcuffed to a lead pipe" in a prison guarded by teenagers.

After a few paragraphs of his fatalistic but still irreverent musings the narrative drops back a week or so to join Siri and his best friend, ex-politburo member Civilai, having some fun with the interviewer for the Department of Hero Creation.

Siri then takes his new wife, Daeng, to a riveting Chinese propaganda film (all film is riveting to Siri), from which he is rudely rousted by a Vietnamese security soldier and taken to K6, the former American quarter. "Forty acres of suburban USA had been plonked down in the middle of rice fields and fenced in to keep out (or, Civilai argued, in) the riffraff."

A naked girl - a Lao soldier - has been expertly skewered through the heart with a fencing sword. As if this isn't weird enough - Laos not being the fencing capitol of the world - the next day there's another and the next another.

Interspersed with Siri's insightful investigation are his increasingly gruesome observations from the prison camp in, no surprise, Cambodia. When Siri and Civilai are selected to make up a delegation, even Siri's most silent ghosts (he houses a long-dead Hmong shaman and sees dead people, though they seldom help him solve their murders) try to keep him home. To no avail.

Just before he leaves for Cambodia a man is arrested for the murders. Siri is unsatisfied, but unable to say why. Not until he's imprisoned and on the verge of death, does he solve the case, sadly aware that an innocent man will be executed.

Cotterill's fans will find this seventh mystery one of his best (though they are all superb). The subplots involving the personal lives of series characters captivate, while the intricacies of the Laotian culture and the humorless incompetency of the new communist government clash, as always, with sharp hilarity:

" `Sir, you have to go to K6,' he said. `There's been a murder.'

"Given the pace of communication in the Republic, it wasn't unthinkable for this to have been the message from two days hence, just having reached the guard post...."

But this time a darker story contrasts with Cotterill's personable wit as we follow Siri into the, for him, unimaginable.

This is the 7th in series starring an elderly Laotian coroner in post communist takeover Laos. While the setting can be dreary and, of course, these are murder mysteries; these books are life confirming and filled with wry humor and satire.
I don't know how accurately they portray the culture and politics of the time, but it doesn't matter. The characters are fully fleshed and you come to like and care for them.
I suggest you start from the beginning and read them in order.
They're short, easy reads.

This is a fun series for people like me that like foreign police procedurals. It is not nasty, not mean spririted, constantly entertaining, but you really don't need to think too deeply or too hard. The little bit of spiritual mysticism is light enough to not distract from the fact that I want a mystery with my police procedural (and the coroner qualifies as "police" in this series). The love story is quaint. It isn't my normal fare, but I like this series.

Love this whole series, but this one was outstanding. Same great atmosphere and characters, but the usual humor is tampered with issues of international intrigues, including some vivid, and very relevant torture scenes. This book is morally vibrant and generally exciting. With this notable exception, not sure if I've ever read six books in a mystery series that haven't let me down.

This is the best yet in a wonderful series. Its got it all: wit, pathos, love, death, ghosts and rich characters; all of which stay with you long after you put the book down. Terrifically written with a rhythm and grace that's almost musical. This is the best type of murder mystery where an intriguing and engaging investigation in an exotic setting serves as the nexus for exploring a number of important aspects of the human condition and yet does it with a great sense of humor and humility. The other reviewers have done a great job describing the story and setting so all I'll add is that this is one of the best series out there and I would highly recommend buying them all, start at the begining and set aside plenty of free time as you likely will not want to put them down once you start. Can't wait for the next one!

Colin Cotterill's series about the lively, 74-year-old Laotian doctor in 1970's, newly independent (and communist) Laos goes from strength to strength. His hero continues to live a full, rich life as the only coroner in the country, and one with a curious relationship to the dead. This time there is a sad and sobering side-story taking place in Cambodia, where the Khmer Rouge are slaughtering their own countrymen. Information about what is going on there - the torture chambers, the killing fields - is just beginning to reach the outside world. Anyone can be captivated by these novels, but those who have had the opportunity to visit today's southeast Asia will revel in the vivid presentation of people, sites (down to the caves outside Luang Prabang), and atmosphere. I could almost smell the noodles! Keep writing, Mr. Cotterill!

Have thoughly enjoyed the Dr. Siri Myster series set in Laos. Great writing, complex story themes written with wit and humor. Look forward to the next installments.