An elderly man has been run down by a logging truck on the street in Vientiane just opposite the post office. His body is delivered to the morgue of Dr. Siri Paiboun, the official and only coroner of Laos. At the age of seventy-three, Siri is too old to be in awe of the new communist bureaucrats for whom he now works. Before he can identify the corpse, he must decipher a letter in the man's pocket—it is written in invisible ink and in code. He was a blind retired dentist, his widow explains, and the enigmatic letters and numbers describe chess moves, but they are unlike any chess symbols Siri has previously encountered. With the help of his old friend, Civilai, now a senior member of the Laos politburo; Nurse Dtui; Phosy, a police officer; and Auntie Bpoo, a transvestite fortune-teller, Siri must solve the mystery of the note to the blind dentist and foil a plot to overthrow the government of Laos.
1 of 1 copy available
-
Creators
-
Series
-
Publisher
-
Release date
August 24, 2011 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781481555029
- File size: 193347 KB
- Duration: 06:42:48
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
May 7, 2007
S
et in 1970s Communist Laos, Cotterill's delightful fourth novel to feature Dr. Siri Paiboun, the Laotian national coroner and one of the more eccentric characters in crime fiction, and Paiboun's clever assistant, Nurse Dtui (after 2006's Disco for the Departed
), nicely blends the supernatural, humor and intrigue. This time, their trials and tribulations begin with the death of Dr. Buagaew, a blind dentist hit by a truck. When blank papers are found on the dentist's body, Paiboun quickly discovers encoded writing in invisible ink. Aided by his friends, police officer Phosy and politburo member Civilai, Paiboun follows up on a number of clues and discovers that the code describes a series of chess moves. A trip to the southern Laotian city of Pakse draws him deeper into a complex political intrigue. Adding local color is Auntie Bpoo, a fortune-teller transvestite who predicts Paiboun will soon betray his country. This sometimes slapstick, sometimes serious, but always lively mystery is sure to bring the author many new readers.
-