The Second Biggest Nothing

Starred review from July 1, 2019
In 1980, Vientiane, the Laotian capital city, is hosting a celebration of five years of Communist rule, despite the regime’s signal failure to achieve anything, in Cotterill’s exceptional 14th mystery featuring retired Laotian national coroner Siri Paiboun (after 2018’s Don’t Eat Me). Siri is enjoying the political theater until he receives a note attached to the tail of his dog, Ugly. The message’s anonymous writer states that “my desire to destroy you and your loved ones is a fire that has burned in my heart without end.” When further written threats follow, and as people connected to Siri start dying, he wracks his brains to figure out which of the many persons in his past who have vowed vengeance is behind the violence. Flashbacks to Siri’s younger days, including an episode in 1932 Paris, where he witnessed an assassination and identified the hit man, offer glimpses of possible suspects. The eccentric Siri, who some believe to be possessed by a thousand-year-old shaman, has rarely been funnier or more astute. Cotterill is writing at the top of his game.

Starred review from August 1, 2019
In this fourteenth installment in the Dr. Siri Paiboun mysteries, which combine the madcap, the tragic, and the magical, it's 1980, and Dr. Siri, the former national coroner of Laos, finds a death threat tied to the tail of his dog, Ugly. The threat promises to ruin the life Siri has constructed so carefully over the years. Siri and his beloved wife, Madame Daeng (owner of the best noodle shop in Vientiane), meet the threat with oddly exhilarated resolve. They have, after all, survived the Vietnam War and continuing Communist rule, and are amazed to be alive when so many of their contemporaries died long ago. Siri must scan his past, looking for enemy indicators. And this is where the mystery becomes much more than a typical hero must confront his past story. Cotterill uses three embedded narratives, showing Siri as a young med student in Paris in 1932, at an art museum in Saigon in 1956, and at a POW negotiation in Hanoi in 1972. This is a beautifully evocative way to show the history that Siri has witnessed, from French colonialism through the Vietnam War and Communist rule in Laos. Cotterill packs a lot into this mystery?history, mordant wit, clock-ticking suspense, resilient characters, and odd, entrancing details, like Siri's very crabby spirit guide. A weird and wonderful series continues.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2019

Cotterill returns with the next in his 1970s Laos-set series starring former national coroner Dr. Siri. A death threat has the venerable doctor reflecting on three key events: a meeting with close friend Civilai in 1930s Paris, a visit to a Saigon art museum in 1956, and a POW negotiation in war-fraught Hanoi in the early 1970s.

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