When the corpse of a rural beauty turns up in Dr. Siri's morgue, his curiosity is piqued. The victim was tied to a tree and strangled, but she had not, as the doctor had expected, been raped. On a trip to the hinterlands, Siri learns that many women have been killed this way, and he soon discovers that not only pretty maidens are at risk. Seventy-three-year-old coroners can be victims, too.
"Delectable."
--The Huffington Post
"It is part of Colin Cotterill's skill that he grips the reader by intercutting between the cerebral deductions of Siri and the determined planning of the killer. Clever plotting spins out tension alongside the Mekhong . . . Tight plotting and a background full of the sounds and colour of the Orient make this a fascinating read."
--The Independent, UK
"The consistently fine characterizations of the entire cast are matched by a tightly constructed plot in which the tension is heightened with excerpts from the killer's point of view."
--Booklist
"Siri's morgue is as entertaining as a comedy club."
--Kirkus Reviews
"[Dr. Siri] is as delightfully eccentric and unpredictably clever as ever . . . Cotterill provides a detailed look at the life, customs, and political realities of a place and time unfamiliar to most Americans: Laos in the 1970s. And again he does this with his trademark combination of crisp plotting, witty dialogue, political satire, and otherworldly phenomena."
--School Library Journal
"The glimpses of everyday life in Laos will appeal to those readers curious about a culture unfamiliar to most Americans."
--Publishers Weekly
"[Dr. Siri is] a wonderful character, and a rather unique one in detective fiction . . . Highly and most enthusiastically recommended."
--Mysterious Reviews
"A very enjoyable read . . . Siri is a character worth pursuing."
--Reviewing the Evidence
"A funny, sweet and devilishly complex mystery . . . Colin Cotterill is a master of sleight of hand."
--Curled Up with a Good Book
"The Merry Misogynist (and all the other Dr Siri books) are carefully crafted police procedurals and each book has a decided twist in the tail--none of which I've yet managed to anticipate . . . Dr Siri can be decidedly unsettling."
--The Bookbag, UK
Praise for the Dr. Siri Paiboun Investigations
"Terrifically beguiling detective novels steeped in local color and history."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Like Dr. Siri, Colin Cotterill has a touch of magic about him."
--The Boston Globe
"A delightfully fresh and eccentric hero."
--John Burdett
"Unpredictable . . . Tragically funny and magically sublime."
--Entertainment Weekly
"A crack storyteller and an impressive guide to a little-known culture."
--The Washington Post Book World