At 72, Dr. Siri yearns to drink coffee, tend his garden, and read his books. But instead of a pension and honorable retirement for this combat surgeon to the Pathet Lao, he is now, in 1976, the chief and only medical examiner in Laos– the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos– shortly after the communists seized power after a long cave-based insurgency that Siri helped. Now he will be cutting up bodies until the day he is ready to become one.

Dr. Siri’s unair-conditioned morgue is no better equip More...

It's a new genre--the magical mystery (and if you finished the sentence with "tour," stop reading and click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVdiqw...

Dr. Siri, a member of the Communist Party for forty-seven years, has been made the first coroner in the new republic. We meet him sharing a case with a judge who has a talent for inappropriate mottos and is not "even bright enough for sarcasm." Dr. Siri, being twenty-two years past his normal lifespan, has reached a certain passivity in life th More...

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I loved this one so much I immediately requested the next one in the series from my library, even though I've already got a large stack of books to read. The characters are well-developed and intriguing; especially the doctor and his unusual staff. I really enjoyed the supernatural element, too. Gosh, I seemed tongue-tied; unable to find the right words to describe this unique book. It was humorous without being silly, and uplifting without being preachy. A small page-turner; easily read in a da More...

Laos, 1976. Les communistes du Pathet s'emparent du pouvoir et l'intelligentsia fuit le pays. Siri Paiboun, un médecin qui a fait ses études à Paris, décide de rester. À 72 ans, et bien qu'il n'ait jamais pratiqué d'autopsie, il est nommé coroner. Quand la femme d'un ponte du Parti meurt en plein banquet et que les cadavres de trois soldats vietnamiens sont retrouvés flottant sur les eaux d'un lac laotien, tous les regards se tournent vers lui. Déterminé à résoudre ces crimes en dépit des tentat More...

I had a hard time with the opening scene of this book. Such a hard time that, had I not committed myself to read it, I would have stopped right there and returned it to the library.

In the opening scene 3 or 4 (can't remember exactly as I've tried to scrub the scene from my mind) dead bodies are thrown out of an airplane into a lake. The bodies are tied to each other and to a large amount of ordnance. They fall through the clouds, slip into the lake, and settle to the bottom with little more than More...

It is so much more enjoyable to get the feel of a country, its culture and politics from the point of view of a citizen, rather than a politician or a newsperson! I am trusting that Dr. Siri (Laos) and his friends from other cultures (Thailand, Viet Nam, etc.) are good reflections of the citizenry. (I guess I’m putting my trust in Colin Cotterill also.)

That a morgue be can run by the cast of characters there is a remarkable feat to all outsiders, but the reader. I hope that we hear more about th More...

A wonderful tongue in cheek satire on the revolution in Laos, "The Coroner's Lunch" tells the tale of Dr. Siri Paiboun, unwillingly chosen to become coroner in the new communist state. The powers that be think he will be another incompetent cog in the machinery of the bureaucracy. What they do not realize is that this man in his 70's has a work ethic that demands he do his job properly despite lack of equipment and resources. How Dr. Paiboun goes about his job and solves the mysteries is both en More...

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

The setting is Laos just after the Pathet Lao seized power (c. 1975). Dr. Siri Paiboun is an old member of the Party dragooned into being the country's chief coronor because all the qualified candidates have fled. Untrained, nevertheless Siri sets out to learn the job and do the best job he can.

Cotterill writes with ease and engagingly and Siri is a very likable character (I can empathize with his phone phobia). I hope the author develops this into a continuing se More...

Those readers who love Michael Pearce’s Mamur Zapt series of novels will enjoy Colin Cotterill’s series of novels set in Laos and starring septuagenarian Dr. Siri Paiboun. Michael Pearce’s novels were political whodunits set in Cairo under British rule in the first decade of the 20thC and were first of this intriguing, ‘political setting for murder mystery’ genre. Colin Cotterill choses 1970s Laos, under the new Communist Regime, for his political setting. His main character is the seventy two y More...

My friend Sandy sends out a list of books she has read with her Christmas letter each year. She listed this series by Colin Cotterill in her most recent holiday report. This is first mystery featuring the Laotian coroner named Dr. Siri Paiboun. Laos is still Communist, like Viet Nam, and China, and dominated by military rule, like Myanmar has been. The atmosphere is slow, and societal structures are archaic and unaffected by globalization, except when it comes to crime. Dr. Siri was been made co More...

Laos is a landlocked socialist republic in southeast Asia, bordering with the more dominant nations of China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The Coroner's Lunch is set in 1976, a year after the end of a long civil war that resulted in the Soviet-backed communist Pathet Lao coming to power. The protagonist is Siri Paiboun, a doctor and a widower who, rather than being able to enjoy a peaceful retirement at the age of 72, is made the country's only coroner. One of the many delights of this book a More...

Als der König im Dezember 1975 abdankt und die Kommunisten in Laos die Herrschaft übernehmen, denkt Siri, dass er sich mit über 70 Jahren nach erfolgreichem Kampf zur Ruhe setzen könne. Doch weit gefehlt. Für solchen Luxus hat das neue System kein Verständnis und der rüstige Mann muss umschulen. Statt lebende Menschen zu heilen, soll er als erster und einziger Pathologe des Landes arbeiten und sich mit Toten befassen. Schneller als ihm lieb ist, kommen unnatürliche Todesursachen auf seinen Tisch More...

This is the most wonderous series! It was one I thought would be a conventional who-done-it, but it is SOOOO much more.

Dr. Siri Paiboum is a French trained Doctor who is a native of Cambodia. Due to meeting his wife in France, who was a communist, he became part of Cambodia's fight to bring power to the people, wresting away from the corrupt goverment, which was topped by a Royal family. After years of fighting a civil war, and participating in the Vietnam communist faction in their civil war, t More...

It’s quite difficult to pigeonhole The Coroner’s Lunch, other than to say it’s a crime novel set in Laos in 1976. It’s too political to be a cozy, though it does have leanings that way; it has too much humour and comic charm for a noir or hardboiled; and it’s more a cultural commentary than a police procedural. It’s also very good. Cotterill’s skill is manifold: the story being well paced and plotted, with a good balance between show and tell, giving enough but not too much back story, and it be More...

I admit up front that one of the main reasons I love this book, and the rest of the series which I am currently reading through, is because I found the books (technically my sister found the books) while sitting in a Laos airport, waiting to fly out of the country after having spent 4 days there and loving every minute.

The other reason I love the book is because it is a great book. Murder mystery is my favorite genre and this is a great one. Dr. Siri is charming, admirable, funny and intelligent More...

The Coroner's Lunch is the first in a mystery series set in 1970's Laos. The Communist party has assigned the position of national coroner to 72 year old Dr. Siri. Siri is looking forward to a long, easy retirement when this posting, for which he has no knowledge or experience, comes through. Paired with a nurse who is obsessed with gossip magazines and a half-wit who knows the procedures better than both of them, he must solve some of the nation's most complicated, political, and perplexing dea More...

I love good mysteries. And I loved the character Quincy. And I love the political science of Asia.

So a murder mystery, featuring a Laotian coroner, set just after the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic just about had me drooling.

I did like this book, and character of the coroner and the setting.

What I liked less well were the mystical/supernatural powers of the coroner. I can respect their inclusion from an inter-cultural communication perspective. But to me they detracted fro More...

72-year-old physician Dr. Siri Paiboun joined the Laotian communist movement for love of his wife, 11 years dead. When the communists come to power, he is asked to be the country's head coroner -- in fact, its only coroner. Spirits of the people he dissects come to him, first in dreams and then in waking life. His loyal assistants in the morgue are Dtui, a smart-alecky young woman who wants to be the next coroner, and Mr. Geung, afflicted with mild Down's syndrome and gifted with a prodigious me More...

The Coroner’s Lunch, by Colin Cotterill, A-minus, Narrated by Clive Schafer, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

At last! This title is available as an audio book. I’ve waited for a long time for this book, which has had so many recommendations! 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 r More...

Quincy meets Judge Dee in communist Laos? It sounds an unlikely subject for a mystery series, but it was a breath of fresh air to me (with one BIG qualification). I first encountered Cotterill through Killed at the Whim of a Hat, which is the first book in a new series set in Thailand. I found this opening volume in Cotterill’s first series almost as enjoyable but not as laugh-out-loud funny, not surprising given the rather bleak conditions in the People’s Paradise of 1970’s southeast Asia.
Dr. S More...

This is the first in a series of mysteries set in communist Laos in the waning years of the Indochina War. Its clear that the author has done a significant amount of research into the location and era, particularly because one of the beauties of the story is its unique setting. One gets an equal feel for both the laid back pace of life and pastoral environment of Laos, as well as the difficulties of investigating a murder in a post-war society run by a communist bureaucracy. The hero - Siri - ha More...

Laos 1976. Dr. Siri Panboun, seventy-two years old and itching to retire, was essentially coerced into the appointment of national coroner after the Communist takeover. Prior to this, he knew nothing about autopsies. Siri was a general physician earning respect and warmth from his patients. He had never worked on cold, dead bodies. His predecessor had fled across the river to Thailand, leaving a gap in the state-controlled medical examiners office. Most of the professional classes have hightaile More...

As a septuagenerian myself, I must say I was intrigued by the idea of a 72 year old Laotian physician, Dr. Siri Paiboun, as the protagonist in a police procedural series.

Set in Laos in 1976, less than a year after the Communist takeover of that country, Paiboun, as one of the last physicians left in the country, has been drafted to serves as the national (and only) coroner. Never mind that he knows absolutely nothing at all about forensic medicine--he’s done surgery, right, and what’s the differ More...

I'm so disappointed. I think that I'm going to have another mystery series to add to the long list of things I need to keep reading. Yay to add to my backlog!
This was an awesome book recommended by a couple of people in my book swap group.
Doctor Siri Paiboun is a relunctant coroner who was "rewarded" this position because of his "dedication" to the Communist party. The book is set in 1976 when Laos was under the control of the Chinese. Many of the people who were educated have fled and most of More...

First Sentence: Tran, Tran, and Hok broke through the heavy end-of-west-season clouds.

It is 1976 and one year after the Communist takeover of Laos. Dr. Siri Paiboun is 72-years old, a widower and ready to retire. Instead, he is appointed state coroner; in fact, he’s the only coroner in Laos and has three cases to deal with; the death of an important official’s wife, the discovery of bodies that could lead to an international incident between Laos and Vietnam, and uncovering the reason why the co More...

The Coroner's Lunch is a wonderful novel which introduces the reader to the unique setting of 1977 Laos. That in and of itself is enough to get the reader's attention. What we soon discover is that Dr. Siri Paiboun the reluctant 72 year old, newly appointed official state cororner is a character to be reckoned with. His delightful staff includes Geung an assistant with Down Syndrome, who knows more about smells and body parts than most and ambitious, wise cracking, Dtui the only female of the gr More...

As cosy a mystery as you could expect from a story set in a post-revolutionary communist society. Impoverished, beset by bureaucratic buffoonery, the Pathet Lao seem to have been a little more benign than the governments of their SE Asia neighbors Vietnam and Cambodia, and certainly better than the corrupt Royalist regime they replaced. At least that's the opinion of Dr Siri Paiboun the State (and only) coroner who has been a party member most of his long life.

Not that it stops his old-man's te More...

What do you get when you set the TV show Bones in 1970's Laos just after the country embraced Communism? Why, you get a coroner that does his investigations in sandals and travels on a borrowed bicycle. He's having to face down counter-insurgents and big brother type of overseers at every corner.

Actually, a better analogy would have been to compare to the TV show, Quincy, M.D., but I figured that since that show has been off the air for more than 30 years, not too many people would get the refer More...