Slash and Burn

Starred review from October 17, 2011
Set in the summer of 1978, Cotterill’s outstanding eighth mystery starring Laotian coroner Dr. Siri Paiboun (after 2010’s Love Songs from a Shallow Grave) promises to be the series’ last. The 74-year-old Paiboun hopes to stay out of trouble until he retires in a couple of months, but a high-profile inquiry into the fate of a U.S. airman, Capt. Boyd Bowry, who disappeared a decade earlier, ensures otherwise. Paiboun and his wife, Madame Daeng, accompany a delegation that includes Americans to the region where Bowry’s helicopter allegedly crashed. Murder follows the mission, giving Paiboun one last case to solve. The legitimate fair-play puzzle provides the stage for the book’s captivating lead, who in one instance uses a clever ruse to cut down on the vast number of false claims of Laotians to be in possession of human remains that could be MIAs sought by foreigners. The author deftly inserts humor into what could easily have been an unrelentingly grim plot line.

Starred review from December 1, 2011

Pushing 80 and just a whisper away from his retirement as Laos's national coroner, Dr. Siri is called into action when an MIA delegation comes to investigate a possible sighting of an American fighter pilot believed dead since 1968. Siri and his forensics team, including his clever wife, have no choice but to join the Laotian-U.S. group in a remote area of the country. Then, stuck in an outpost from hell, the members of the isolated delegation are systematically murdered. Just below a veneer of diplomacy and genuine concern lies the insidious truth. Who better than Siri and his colleagues to smoke out the real reason behind this mission? VERDICT Adept Dr. Siri (Love Songs from a Shallow Grave) once again turns to Georges Simenon's fictional Inspector Maigret for inspiration. Don't even think about missing this final volume; the entire series is destined to be a classic. Readers who enjoy Michael Stanley's Dr. Kubu series will find themselves addicted to this one as well. [See Prepub Alert, 8/2/11.]

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2011
This appears to be the final novel in Cotterill's popular and award-winning series set in the 1970s and starring Dr. Siri Paiboun of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos. Before the hardworking doctor can retire, he must tackle one last case, which takes him deep into the depths of the Laotian jungle in the hunt for a missing American pilot. The pilot was assumed dead after his copter disappeared in 1968, but his father is a U.S. senator, so when evidence that he might be alive appears, a full-fledged hunt is undertaken. Dr Siri agrees to go only after getting permission to take his entire team, so despite the remote locale, all the familiar characters are present, including transsexual fortune-teller Bpoo. If this tale does turn out to be the last volume in the much-loved series, it is a fitting finale. Cotterill brings together all the elements that have made the stories so popular: a good mystery, plenty of humor, and a touch of the supernatural. A must for series fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)