Disco for the Departed

Product Description
The third installment in Colin Cotterill's highly engaging 'Dr. Siri' Paiboun series.

Dr. Siri Paiboun is summoned to the mountains of Huaphan Province, where for years the leaders of the current communist government hid in caves, waiting to assume power. Now a major celebration of the new regime is scheduled to take place, but an arm is found protruding from the concrete walk laid from the president's former cave hideout to his new house beneath the cliffs. Siri must supervise the disinterment of the body attached to the arm, identify it, and determine the cause of death.

The autopsy provides some surprises, but it is his gifts as a shaman that enable the seventy-three-year-old doctor to discover why the victim was buried alive and to identify the killer.
Review
''Purely entertaining . . . Elements of the ritualistic killings are pretty gross and the spooks can be scary; but as the author gently points out, life would be dreary without a few thrills.'' --
New York Times Book Review

''Cotterill's writing is both evocative and educational.'' --
Entertainment Weekly

''Readers who enjoy Eliot Pattison's Asian thrillers . . . will find that Cotterill shares the same sardonic view of Asian communism mixed with a touch of mysticism . . . a quality that sets the work of both authors apart from most mystery fare.'' --
Library Journal (starred review)

''Engrossing . . . This witty and unusual series just keeps getting better.'' --
Publishers Weekly

''Exotic and engrossing . . . Cotterill mixes several elements of mysticism, including soul-transfer, elaborate rituals, dancing (and disco music) for the departed with more conventional themes: racism, international relations, military and government bureaucracy, and romantic posturing . . . The novel offers an excellent alternative to the typical American or British mystery setting.'' --
School Library Journal

''The third entry in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series finds the spry, wry national coroner of Laos picking up a few new dance moves . . . With such a compelling cast of characters, the twisty mystery comes as a nice bonus.'' --
Booklist
About the Author
COLIN COTTERILL was born in London. He has taught in Australia, the United States, and Japan and lived for many years in Laos where he worked for nongovernmental social-service organizations. He now writes full time and lives in Thailand. His books have been Book Sense Picks, and he won the Dilys Award and a Crime Writers' Association Library Dagger for
Thirty-Three Teeth.