Colin Cotterill - The Coroner’s Lunch

review by Ro Bennett on show 22nd Sept 2011

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it a gripping read and a real page turner. It’s unusual and interesting in that it’s set in the newly formed People’s Democratic Republic of Laos in 1976. All the rich, middle classes, professionals and just about anyone else capable of it have sailed or swum across the Mekong river to Thailand to get away from the communist regime who've taken over the country. The country is in state of flux. There is incompetence and corruption, lack of resources and most people are coping with deprivation and in unenviable living conditions.

The hero is just lovely. Dr Siri Paiboun is a seventy-two year old gentleman who was trained as a doctor in France where he fell madly in love with an ardent communist. He joined the communist party for a lark and returned to Laos because of his wife’s commitment to the revolution. However he had been banished to the jungles of Laos and Vietnam for many years to work with injured soldiers and avoid bombs because he had a habit of telling the senior party members when he disagreed with them.

His wife who had become bitter and disillusioned with the corruption and the fact that the revolution was not remotely fulfilling it glorious ideals, had been killed by a grenade. Now, the war over, Dr Siri is looking forward to a well earned retirement, only to be informed that as the only surviving doctor he is to become the nation’s Chief Coroner. Initially he hasn’t a clue what he is doing and performs his first autopsy with the help of a very old French book and two assistants he’s been allocated, a girl who enjoys reading magazines and a young man with mild Down’s syndrome.

He now 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 commanders of an Army base, located in northern Laos, keep dying.

Dr Siri is constantly hindered in his investigations by an inept judge who is throwing his weight around. I quote: The judge been trained, rapidly, to fill one of the many gaps left by the fleeing upper classes. He’d studied in a language he didn’t really understand and been handed a a degree he didn’t deserve. The Soviets added his name to the roster of Asian communists successfully educated by the great and gloriously enlightened socialist Motherland.


Siri believed a judge should be someone who acquired wisdom layer by layer over a long life, like tree rings of knowledge; believed you couldn’t just walk into the position by guessing the right answers to multiple choice tests in Russian.


One example of the tongue in the cheek pop at the politics of the region. However, besides being witty and funny, with many laugh out loud parts, there is also a very real sense of danger and peril. These are intensified by the macabre dreams Siri has. The author, who clearly knows Laos very well and loves it, has incorporated his insight into Lao life and culture, hill tribe life and the belief in spirits, and used it all to good effect to build up the atmosphere and tension in the story.


The plot is excellent, the characters are quirky and amusing but the author is very astute so they are well developed and convincing. I got a really good idea of what life was like in Laos at the time. Here’s an extract which illustrates this.


On his one day off, Siri was expected to help in the digging of an irrigation canal. Quote: Community service in the city wasn’t a punishment; it was a reward for being a good citizen. It was the authorities’ gift to the people. They didn’t want a single man, woman or child to miss out on the heart-swelling pride that comes from resurfacing a road or dredging a stream. The government knew the people would gladly give up their only day off for such a treat....

When Siri went downstairs he found two trucks loaded with drowsy, silent neighbours, obviously overcome with delight.

I am so pleased to have found this author and intend to read the rest of this series.

Colin Cotterill was born in London, he has taught in Australia, the USA and Japan and lived for many years in Laos where he worked for non-governmental social service organizations. He spent over twenty years teaching and training educators in Asian countries, mainly Laos and Thailand. His twin passions are drawing cartoons and writing. He now writes full-time and lives in Thailand.