AustLit logo
Doctor Siri Paiboun series - author   novel   crime   mystery  
Issue Details: First known date: 2004-... 2004- Doctor Siri Paiboun
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Includes

1
y separately published work icon The Coroner's Lunch Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2004 Z1271727 2004 single work novel crime mystery
2
y separately published work icon Thirty-Three Teeth 33 Teeth Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2005 Z1271730 2005 single work novel crime mystery "The reluctant national coroner of Laos, Dr. Siri Paiboun, is no respecter of persons, or Party; at the age of seventy-two he can afford to be independent. With the assistance of his helpers, Mr. Geung, a mentally challenged lab technician and Nurse Dtui, whose nickname means "Fatty", he continues to elucidate the causes of mysterious deaths and defy the incumbent Communist government bureaucracy." "In the course of this latest investigation, Dr. Siri, who has been dubbed "Super Spirit Doc', travels from his home base to Luang Prabang where he communes with the deposed king, who believes he lost his kingdom because his special channel to the occult closed. The king is resigned to his fate; it was predicted long ago. Dr. Siri also attends a conference of shamans called by the Communist government to deliver an ultimatum to the spirits: obey Party orders or get out." "Something wild and evil has been let loose in the city of Vientiane. A series of mutilated corpses lands in Dr. Siri's morgue, but it is only when Nurse Dtui is menaced that the elderly coroner can discover the cause of these deaths and identify the creature, animal or spirit, that has been slaying the innocent."--BOOK JACKET.
3
y separately published work icon Disco for the Departed Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2006 Z1271735 2006 single work novel mystery
4
y separately published work icon Anarchy and Old Dogs Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2007 Z1603347 2007 single work novel crime mystery
5
y separately published work icon The Curse of the Pogo Stick Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2008 Z1603343 2008 single work novel crime mystery Dr. Siri Paiboun, the spry seventy-three-year-old reluctant national coroner of Laos, is out of town when a booby-trapped corpse is delivered to the morgue in Vientiane. The lives of visiting doctors, the morgue attendants, and Madame Daeng, Dr. Siri's fiancee, are saved by the intervention of Nurse Dtui, the doctor's longtime assistant, but it is a near thing. Who is responsible for this outrage? On his way back from a Communist Party meeting in the north, Dr. Siri is kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers. The village elder had ordered them to bring Siri to him, hoping that Yeh Ming, the thousand-year-old shaman who shares the doctor's body, would consent to exorcise the headman's daughter. He fears that her soul has been possessed by a demon due to the curse of a mysterious artifact that they have placed on an altar. Siri agrees to help and in so doing, brings to pass a prediction of Auntie Bpoo, a transvestite fortune-teller. - Libraries Australia record
6
y separately published work icon The Merry Misogynist Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2009 10269484 2009 single work novel crime mystery

In poverty-stricken 1978 Laos, a man from the city with a truck was somebody — a catch for even the prettiest village virgin. The corpse of one of these bucolic beauties turns up in Dr. Siri's morgue, and his curiosity is piqued. The victim was tied to a tree and strangled, but she had not, as the doctor had expected, been raped. And though the victim had smooth, pale skin over most of her body, her hands and feet were gnarled, callused, and blistered. On a trip to the hinterlands, Siri discovers that many women have been killed in this way. He sets out to investigate this unprecedented phenomenon — a serial killer in peaceful Buddhist Laos — only to discover, when he has identified the murderer, that not only pretty maidens are at risk: seventy-three-year-old coroners can be victims too.

Source: Publisher's Blurb

7
y separately published work icon Love Songs From a Shallow Grave Colin Cotterill , London : Quercus , 2010 10269350 2010 single work novel crime mystery

As usual, all is abnormal in Dr Siri Paiboun's morgue in downtown Vientiane. Siri and her team are investigating the case of three women skewered by a sword through their hearts. A culprit has been apprehended, tried and sentenced to death in a week's time. Siri isn't sure that they have the right man.

Source: Publisher's Blurb

8
y separately published work icon Slash and Burn Colin Cotterill , London : Quercus , 2011 Z1841847 2011 single work novel crime mystery 'Dr Siri's bagged himself a holiday: an all-expenses-paid trip to the northern mountains of Laos. What's more, through a bit of skilful bartering (well, blackmail) he has wangled it so that his nearest and dearest may accompany him. Supervising an excavation for the remains of a U.S. fighter pilot who crashed in a northern Laos jungle a decade earlier, national coroner Dr. Siri becomes suspicious when a series of fatal accidents culminates in his team getting trapped in a cabin.' (Trove)
9
y separately published work icon The Woman Who Wouldn't Die Colin Cotterill , London : Quercus , 2013 10269565 2013 single work novel mystery crime

In a small Lao village, a very strange thing has happened. A woman was shot and killed in her bed during a burglary; she was given a funeral and everyone in the village saw her body burned. Then, three days later, she was back in her house as if she'd never been dead at all. But now she's clairvoyant, and can speak to the dead. That's why the long-dead brother of a Lao general has enlisted her to help his brother uncover his remains, which have been lost at the bottom of a river for many years.

Lao national coroner Dr. Siri Paiboun and his wife, Madame Daeng, are sent along to supervise the excavation. It could be a kind of relaxing vacation for them, maybe, except Siri is obsessed with the pretty undead medium's special abilities, and Madame Daeng might be a little jealous. She doesn't trust the woman for some reason─is her hunch right? What is the group really digging for at the bottom of this remote river on the Thai border? What war secrets are being covered up?

Source: Publisher's Blurb

10
y separately published work icon Six And A Half Deadly Sins Colin Cotterill , Sydney : Soho Press , 2016 9221479 2016 single work novel crime

'As an escalating war edges into Communist Laos, feisty septugenarian ex-national coroner Dr. Siri Paiboun is preoccupied with another matter: tracing a mysterious message he's received in the form of a severed finger.' (Publication summary)

11
y separately published work icon I Shot the Buddha Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2016 10438680 2016 single work novel crime mystery

Laos, 1979: Retired coroner Siri Paiboun and his wife, Madame Daeng, have never been able to turn away a misfit. As a result, they share their small Vientiane house with an assortment of homeless people, mendicants, and oddballs. One of these oddballs is Noo, a Buddhist monk, who rides out on his bicycle one day and never comes back, leaving only a cryptic note in the refrigerator: a plea to help a fellow monk escape across the Mekhong River to Thailand.

Naturally, Siri can’t turn down the adventure, and soon he and his friends find themselves running afoul of Lao secret service officers and famous spiritualists. Buddhism is a powerful influence on both morals and politics in Southeast Asia. In order to exonerate an innocent man, they will have to figure out who is cloaking terrible misdeeds in religiosity.

Source: Publisher's Blurb

12
y separately published work icon The Rat Catchers' Olympics Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2017 20260523 2017 single work novel crime mystery

'1980: The Democratic People’s Republic of Laos is proud to be competing in its first-ever Olympics. Of course, half the world is boycotting the Moscow Summer Olympic Games to protest Russia’s recent invasion of Afghanistan, but that has made room for athletes from countries that are usually too small or underfunded to be competitive countries like Laos.

'Ex-national coroner of Laos Dr. Siri Paiboun may be retired, but he and his wife, Madame Daeng, would do just about anything to have a chance to visit Moscow, so Siri finagles the job of medical oversight of the Olympians. Most of the athletes are young and innocent village people who have never worn running shoes, never mind imagined anything as marvelous as the Moscow Olympic Village. As the competition heats up, however, Siri begins to suspect that one of the athletes is not who he says he is. Fearing a conspiracy, Siri and his friends investigate, liaising in secret with Inspector Phosy back home in Laos to see if the man might be an assassin. But Siri’s progress is derailed when another Lao Olympian is accused of murder. Now in the midst of a murky international incident, Dr. Siri must navigate not one but two paranoid and secretive government machines to make sure justice is done.'

Source : publisher's blurb

13
y separately published work icon Don't Eat Me Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2018 20260416 2018 single work novel crime mystery

'Dr. Siri Paiboun, the 75-year-old ex-national coroner of Laos, may have more experience dissecting bodies than making art, but now that he’s managed to smuggle a fancy movie camera into the country, he devises a plan to shoot a Lao adaptation of War and Peace with his friend Civilai. The only problem? The Ministry of Culture must approve the script before they can get rolling. That, and they can’t figure out how to turn on the camera.

'Meanwhile, the skeleton of a woman has appeared under the Anusawari Arch in the middle of the night. Siri puts his directorial debut on hold and assists his friend Phosy, the newly promoted Senior Police Inspector, with the ensuing investigation. Though the death of the unknown woman seems to be recent, the flesh on her corpse has been picked off in places as if something—or someone—has been gnawing on the bones. The plot Siri and his friends uncover involves much more than a single set of skeletal remains.'

Source : publisher's blurb

14
y separately published work icon The Second Biggest Nothing Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2019 20260668 2019 single work novel crime mystery

'A death threat to Dr. Siri and all his friends sends the ex-coroner down memory lane in the 14th installment of Cotterill’s quirky, critically acclaimed series set in 1970s Laos.

'Vientiane, 1980: For a man of his age and in his corner of the world, Dr. Siri, the 76-year-old former national coroner of Laos, is doing remarkably well—especially considering the fact that he is possessed by a thousand-year-old Hmong shaman. That is, until he finds a mysterious note tied to his dog, Ugly’s, tail. The death threat is not just aimed at him, but at everyone he holds dear. And whoever wrote the note claims the job will be executed in two weeks.

'Thus, at the urging of his wife and his motley crew of faithful friends, Dr. Siri must figure out who wants him dead, prompting him to recount three incidents over the years: an early meeting with his lifelong pal Civilai in Paris in the early ’30s, a particularly disruptive visit to an art museum in Saigon in 1956, and a prisoner of war negotiation in Hanoi at 
the height of the Vietnam War in the ’70s. There will be grave consequences in the present if Dr. Siri can’t decipher the clues from his past.'

Source : publisher's blurb

15
y separately published work icon The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot Colin Cotterill , New York (City) : Soho Press , 2020 20260779 2020 single work novel crime mystery

'After 15 cunning, mischievous, heartbreaking, hilarious, eye-opening, and atmospheric installments, Colin Cotterill’s award-winning Dr. Siri Paiboun series comes to a close. Make sure you don’t miss this last chapter, a deliciously clever puzzle that illuminates the history of World War II in Southeast Asia.

'Laos, 1981: When an unofficial mailman drops off a strange bilingual diary, Dr. Siri is intrigued. Half is in Lao, but the other half is in Japanese, which no one Siri knows can read; it appears to have been written during the Second World War. Most mysterious of all, it comes with a note stapled to it: Dr. Siri, we need your help most urgently. But who is “we,” and why have they left no return address?

'To the chagrin of his wife and friends, who have to hear him read the diary out loud, Siri embarks on an investigation by examining the text. Though the journal was apparently written by a kamikaze pilot, it is surprisingly dull. Twenty pages in, no one has died, and the pilot never mentions any combat at all. Despite these shortcomings, Siri begins to obsess over the diary’s abrupt ending . . . and the riddle of why it found its way into his hands. Did the kamikaze pilot ever manage to get off the ground? To find out, he and Madame Daeng will have to hitch a ride south and uncover some of the darkest secrets of the Second World War.'

Source : publisher's blurb

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 6 Jul 2009 15:00:03
Subjects:
Settings:
  • c
    Laos,
    c
    Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X