The Coroner’s Lunch

The Dr. Siri Investigations, Book 1

By: Colin Cotterill

Narrated by: Clive Chafer

Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Laos, 1975: The Communist Pathet Lao has taken over this former French colony. Dr. Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old Paris-trained doctor, is appointed national coroner. Although he has no training for the job, there is no one else: the rest of the educated class have fled.

He is expected to come up with the answers the party wants, but crafty and charming Dr. Siri is immune to bureaucratic pressure. At his age, he reasons, what can they do to him? And he knows he cannot fail the dead who come into his care without risk of incurring their boundless displeasure. Eternity could be a long time to have the spirits mad at you.

©2004 Colin Cotterill (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery…If Cotterill…had done nothing more than treat us to Siri’s views on the dramatic, even comic crises that mark periods of government upheaval, his debut mystery would still be fascinating. But the multiple cases spread out on Siri’s examining table…are not cozy entertainments but substantial crimes that take us into the thick of political intrigue.” ( New York Times Book Review)

excellent.

Great narrator, really good story. I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.

Hated to put it down to do necessary things!

A bit of a comedic take on a coroner's office in 1970's Laos, after the Communist take over.
There are murders the gov't wants him to cover up - not to mention all deaths to be natural as well as him being stalked & blocked by various entities, including evil spirits!
Here's a doctor, roped into being the National Coroner when he'd never been or trained to be one, so it's on the job training with very, very little literature to train on; in a highly underfunded lab, in a country that now has little funding for almost any necessary functions or help for the people.
meanwhile, he and his two morgue helpers carry on with aplomb & courage through it all.
Well written and edited, excellent descriptive wording, great characters and am sincerely looking forward to the next one in the series!
Recommend Highly!
Have to say, the narrator had the voice and inflection of Marvin the Robot in Guide to the Galaxy in the beginning, but did warm to the story as he went on after a couple of chapters...

Wonderful new discovery

I wanted a series set in a different time and place from my usual US- and Britain-based fare, and boy, this delivered. Very humane characters, rich historical detail, and gentle humor. I loved it and am now plowing through the series, grateful there are many books in it. I was curious about why a British author was writing about Laos, so I looked him up. I highly recommend that everyone do so—a fascinating person, and much about the series made sense once I knew about his life and work in Asia.

A little gem of a mystery.

This is a clever new detective series. You've never met a coroner like this one. A fun ride!

Promising first book

Would you try another book from Colin Cotterill and/or Clive Chafer?

I would. I think that the pace and non-Western point of view took a little getting used to (just because so many mysteries are variations of English mysteries), but I came to love that different viewpoint. Would like to see where this goes as the Doctor becomes more developed and hits his stride and the author can spend less time on setting the stage and introducing us to characters.

Any additional comments?

Neat little mystery with shades of the supernatural. The book (first in a long series) follows a coroner in 1970s Laos, post-successful communist revolution. Our septuagenarian Dr. Siri Paiboun is irreverent, sometimes grumpy, clever, and open minded. Oh, and he sees ghosts. Specifically, the ghosts of the people who show up as "customers" at the morgue. This gives him insight into how and why they died, and where that death was unnatural, drives him to help find the wrongdoer. The book is most interesting as it winds its way through small-town life, the bureaucratic inanities of the Communist Party, and the interpersonal relationships of the doctor (he is especially kind to his staff and each of them have quirks and depth). I think I'll try at least one more book in the series, if for no other reason than it is nice to see an older protagonist in a non-Western country tackle that classic genre of mystery.

Enchanting!

A wonderful tale of Southeast Asia, magical realism, and could temporary history. The characters are well drawn, the atmosphere is palpable, and the mysteries are both fun and complex. The reader imparts the gentle teasing and sly wit of the doctor while imparting unique characteristics of the other members of the story. Glad to have found a new author/reader combination.

Vivid language, cultural experience

I enjoyed this book. it is quirky, but held my interest. I liked learning about Laos and the culture

Don't want this to end

What made the experience of listening to The Coroner’s Lunch the most enjoyable?

Learning about a completely alien - politically and culturally - country

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dr. Sili, of course. He is so completely irreverent in a structured society.

Which character – as performed by Clive Chafer – was your favorite?

The narrator did a wonderful job with all the characters, changing the voice and accent slightly for each one - making each character distinct

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

So conflicted - wanted to just binge on it but at the same time dreading being finished with it!

Any additional comments?

Only half-way through but couldn't resist writing a review and urging others to give it a listen.
This is a great book on so many levels: the immersion in 1976 Laotian society, an insight into doctrinaire Communism, the mysteries within the plot and fabulous narration.

A delightful tale

A beautifully written, artfully narrated story of a doctor turned coroner who finds himself the target of an assassin as he tries to piece together the puzzle of a wife's murder and a lover's apparent suicide in Laos.

What a treat!

I go for these thrillers as a distraction, but this one is so substantial, with such an endearing central character, that I had to rewind whenever I missed some detail or plot point. Way better than the usual free content and with a load of southeast Asian history and intrigue that was instructive to my very incomplete education. I would grab the book if I saw it somewhere. That's high praise for audio content. Narration was key, too -- don't be put off by what seems like a flattish tone because within it is reflected all the irony and dry humor the writing demands. Final note: There appear to be multiple audiobooks in the series! Color me psyched.