'Coroner's Lunch' by Colin Cotteril

Coroner’s Lunch, Colin Cotteril (3.5)

I enjoy a detective story low on gore and high on mystery and humor and this story met that criteria and added a nice dose of culture. While not being very familiar with Laotian history, the mysticism of the Hmong people was known to me due to the relocation of many Hmong into the Midwest after the revolution in Laos in the 70’s. The protagonist of this series (with the unfortunate name of Siri) is Laotian, but part of the story revolves around the Hmong mysticism. Dr. Siri is at the end of his career and has been reluctantly assigned as only coroner in town. While not a practiced coroner, he has the advantage of being visited in his dreams by the recent dead. The clues they give him lead him to understand their deaths and help detect possible murderers. I enjoyed Siri’s tolerance of the Laotian communist system. He is frustrated by the inefficiencies, but appreciates how it could be worst. It’s not common to read unbiased versions of communism and this one is refreshing.