The Merry Misogynist: A Dr. Siri Investigation Set in Laos

It's 1978, and the war ended in Laos nearly three years ago, leaving the Communist Pathet Lao regime in charge. Siri Paiboun, the very cynical party member and former partisan, unwillingly drafted to be the country's chief (actually, its only) coroner in his 70s, and his new wife, the 66-year-old Madame Daeng (noodle chef par excellence and former freedom fighter) are starting to believe that they may carve out a happy and harmonious life for whatever years are left to them. Married for two months, the smile hasn't left Siri's lips since.

But the honeymoon is about to be disrupted; Dr. Siri isn't the only happy man in town, and that's bad news. For starters, there are the bureaucrats from the Housing Department, who have discovered to their glee that Siri has let an oddball assortment of people live in his house while he seems to have abandoned his allocated house to live with Mme. Daeng. If they succeed in taking his house away, Siri frets, a former royal puppeteer, a renegade Thai Buddhist monk, some former prostitutes and a couple of Hmong infants that Siri is caring for, will all be left homeless. More serious a threat to Siri's contentment -- and to his longevity -- is another very happy man. He's "Phan", a young man who arrives in remote towns, marries beautiful young women and takes them off on honeymoon -- then kills them. When a young woman arrives to be autopsied on Dr. Siri's table, and he's perturbed to discover that she has been strangled; few Lao would ever strangle another human being, believing that the dead person's spirit would flow through their hands into them and haunt them "for eternity". So Dr. Siri already knows he has a very evil murderer on the loose -- and then he discovers that this isn't the first such crime...

It may seem odd to describe as 'delightful',a murder mystery in which the criminal is a serial killer. But then Cotterill's series of Laotian mysteries featuring Dr. Siri are unique in any number of ways. The investigation is interspersed with other plot elements, like the disappearance of Crazy Rajid and housing wrangle, all of which pit Dr. Siri against everything from stubborn bureaucrats to evil spirits. I laughed so hard I ended up with hiccups at the description of collision between a government limo and a motorcycle, crushing eggs in the motorcycle's sidecar and turning them into a vast omelet on the overheated hood of the limo. (The police have to hold back onlookers "brandishing spoons and plates".) Dr. Siri refelcts that "the chances of two motorized vehicles colliding in Vientiane were less than that of a bird of paradise defecating on your best hat. Poosu, the Hmong god of small accidents, must have been bored that evening."

As the pages are turned, however, the novel's focus narrows slowly but surely to the urgent race to identify the serial killer before he can strike again. Everyone is involved, from the intrepid coroner and Daeng, to Siri's heavily pregnant nurse, Dtui (Siri expects her to give birth to a baby bulldozer); Dtui's husband, the stolid but sensible cop, Phosy, Siri's old crony, Civilai (who has turned to baking after being ousted from the Politburo) and Mr. Geung, the morgue aide who was born with Down's syndrome. The tension builds throughout as the investigators -- both amateur and professional -- scramble to put together the clues in a country where the only ultra-violet lamp available to scrutinize a medical test result is located in the disco lights in a school gymnasium.

At its heart, this is a procedural detective story, but the detectives themselves are unlike any characters you will find in any other novels. The writing is witty; the characters unique and distinctive. Like Siri, I was unable to rest until the race to identify and stop Phan, the 'merry misogynist' of the title, was over.

Siri, as readers of this series will know, is the Lao equivalent of a cat with nine lives. He's the reincarnation of a shaman, and is plagued by demons and spirits. It was disconcerting to check Cotterill's website and realize that the author expects the next Dr. Siri novel to be the final outing for the aged coroner. While I can't wait to have that book in my hands, I'm in the dumps about the fact that Siri and the wonderful fictional world Cotterill has created, will vanish from my literary world after 2010. I hereby pledge to support one of the minority Lao hilltribe students for the 3 or 4 years of teacher training through the organization that Cotterill has helped launch if he promises to keep turning out mysteries with equally-vivid characters in the years to come. After all, if a septugenarian coroner in 1970s can investigate crime, surely a second series of some kind isn't outside the realms of possibility?

Highly recommended to anyone looking for a great detective story with an utterly unique and compelling hero. It will get your adrenaline pumping AND you'll end it with a smile on your own face.

Dr. Siri Paiboun, now in his mid-70s in 1978, the third year of the communist Pathet Lao government, is still Laos' chief and only state coroner in this 6th appearance. Though his desire for retirement remains unfulfilled, he has at long last found wedded bliss.

Noodle seller Madame Daeng, 66, is a partisan comrade from the old days. Both are now a bit disillusioned, with the country suffering shortages of everything except bombast and repression. Madame Daeng enthusiastically joins Siri in his wish for a tranquil life and his unwillingness to suffer officious, puffed-up government bureaucrats, like the housing official standing on Madame Daeng's doorstep trying to catch Siri in the act of living there.

Various people in need (from previous adventures) occupy Siri's assigned abode, and the housing man is eager to advance himself by recouping the house for the state and throwing its inhabitants out on the street. Siri, with a spirited mix of cunning and good-natured defiance, born of his years of experience, stays several steps ahead of the housing campaign while investigating a particularly gruesome murder and hunting for Crazy Rajid, a recurring character who is homeless, virtually silent, unpredictable and missing.

This three-pronged plot engages Siri's professional, private and spiritual sides. As a reincarnated shaman, spirits visit or torment him from time to time and he sees dead people - and animals - their messages frustratingly cryptic.

But the mysteries of the girl in his morgue are chillingly of this world - strangled, violated, tied naked to a tree. The strangulation alone is disturbing as many Lao believe that "if a person was holding a body when the life drained from it, that person was likely to provide a conduit for the spirit of the corpse and be haunted for all eternity." And then Siri discovers this girl was not the first victim - and will not be the last.

Urgency disrupts Siri's normal routines. The lives of Rajid and some yet unknown innocent girl depend upon his swift progress, as does the well being of his houseguests, while the paranoia and red-tape of bureaucracy throw roadblocks in his path. But to Siri those very hindrances can be an investigative aid as well.

Cotterill weaves in the killer's point of view, as is common in thrillers, but doesn't really seem necessary here. Still, it doesn't harm the story and does give us a creepy picture of a tormented, misogynist killer.

Fans will find themselves at home with the usual fine cast; newcomers will not feel like strangers for long. Witty, beguiling, spiritual, very funny, and suspenseful, this series continues to occupy a class all its own.

Another excellent instalment in the series which started with "The Coroners Lunch".
In this one, we have two mysteries, a missing friend (sort of friend) and a psychotic serial killer. To be perfectly honest, I do not read Colin's books for the structure of the mystery itself. I read them for their delightful characters, the languid setting, the picture he draws so well of a conflicted land where you constantly have to make compromises in order to survive. And of course that wonderful polyester clad world of the Comintern and socialist brotherhood. The Pathet Lao are rather inept and unsophisticated oppressors, but still dangerous. You have to watch what you say and where you go, otherwise you'll end up in a re-education camp. You always have a choice of taking your chances in the refugee camps in Thailand, just across the river. Or you can try your luck surviving in the Socialist regime and dream of going to Eastern Europe.
If you're new to the series start from the first book.

My husband and I anxiously await for each volume of the Dr. Siri Paiboun books. They are humorous and entertaining to read. It is interesting to learn about Laos after the communist take over. Very well written and thought provoking.

Great read

All fo the Dr. Siri books are wonderful. I have bought all that I could find.

Because other reviewers have thoroughly outlined the plot of this book, I will not repeat their efforts (see the review by S. McGee for an especially comprehensive effort). I will instead discuss the three salient characteristics that make this series so interesting to me.

The first of these is the spiritual belief of the main character, Dr. Siri. Given some of his religious and quasi religious beliefs, which appear to be a hybrid of Buddhism (both in its philosophic and popular forms) and animism, Siri must have had a traditional upbringing, one that he tried to escape not only by his formal education as a doctor and scientist but by his dedication to the Communist revolution of the Pathet Lao, to which he belonged and for which he fought. Yet neither his turn first to the extreme rationalism of scientific training nor his adoption of the rationalistic, materialistic and militantly atheistic Communist philosophy can destroy his deeply held spiritual/religious beliefs.

In this I believe Siri stands as a type for the psychological difficulties of anyone in a traditional society who must also deal with the contemporary world, a world materialistic in the extreme and often dismissive of religion though sometimes accepting of a non-systematic "spirituality" amounting to little more than personal taste and whim. Cotterill's skill as a novelist is such that we always see Siri as a fully realized character and never as a type from one of the old morality plays. But he is a type nevertheless, standing for many others no doubt in similar straits as a traditional society becomes something else.

Second is Siri's attitude toward the new order that he has helped create. He certainly sees the endless harassment of the people caused by petty bureaucrats enforcing even pettier rules. Such things are not yet unfailingly systematic because the regime is young, but the trend is clear. Siri despises this because it is stupid, unnecessary, basely motivated and often enforced by people who know really nothing of the revolutionary struggle that created it. Was it for this that so much was sacrificed? Yet he takes much of the pettiness in stride because it is part of the human condition, of the need to gain a living and, if possible, to prosper. In this respect, Siri is disappointed but never cynical.

But Siri also sees the signs of something far worse. In its brief life the regime is already turning to the oppressive methods endemic to polities run by zealots who believe that their philosophy (or religion, as the case may be) contains the true and only path for proper living. Such people believe that any and all rules of the regime must be followed as if they came from a divinity. But even this is not enough. Only right thoughts and attitudes can be tolerated and any variance must be sharply punished in order to prevent corruption of others. So, to the extent possible, the policing of thoughts must occur. And reeducation camps already exist in Laos.

Siri, an educated man, no doubt knows that all Communist regimes have swiftly trod the path to ever greater oppression, a path that runs counter to the goals for which he fought. Here Siri's reaction is more profound. He is regretful, fearful and unforgiving because this is a betrayal of those who sacrificed for the cause. Yet what can be done? His reaction is to be fully human in his daily life, ignoring the idiocy whenever possible (but there are limits and he cannot push too far). He pursues justice both in small ways by trying to prevent the arbitrary exercise of power and in bigger ways by solving murders. In doing these things he relies on his status as a respected "old revolutionary" to protect him but knows well that it does not make him invulnerable. Again it says much for Cotterill that he can convincingly portray all this.

Third, looming throughout these books is the dark specter of the unfettered (and ultimately arbitrary) power of the regime. Even in the funniest and most absurd situations (as in the great housing dustup in this book) it is quite clear that if Siri puts his foot just a bit too far over the line, things could easily turn very ugly and even very deadly, with serious criminal charges not far away. It is equally clear that this awareness is shared by many, if not all, Laotians. The destructive weight of this ever present awareness and the fear it engenders is subtly but clearly portrayed in this entire series.

Indeed, it seems to me pretty clear that, if he lives much longer as he currently does (he is a septuagenarian now), the regime that he fought to create in the name of justice will sooner or later find Siri intolerable and will somehow destroy him.

I love Dr Siri Paiboun, irascible elder, coroner and detective. Colin Cotterill paints his characters with love and humour whilst providing a superb view of life in Laos in the 1970s. In this latest installment Siri is married and his wife is as strong and pleasing a character as he. All the characters are beautifully drawn and two stories are woven through the text. It is such a pleasure to read these books, I can only hope that the next book will be out soon.

This is a delightful book by Colin Cotterill. The plot is interesting and engaging and the characters are delightful and well drawn. It gave me a glimpse into a part of Asia I did not know anything about.

Like the Laotian septuagenarian protagonist Dr. Siri Paiboun, this is a series that isn't getting older, just better. And, with "The Merry Misogynist", darker.

The corpse of a beautiful teenage girl shows up in Dr. Siri's morgue, found bound to a tree and strangled with pink ribbon. The condition of the body defies logical explanation, while even deeper mysteries await Siri's autopsy tools. Following some rudimentary investigation, the Columbo-like coroner concludes the poor girl's fate is not an isolated incident, but the grisly work of a serial killer undiscovered for over a decade.

In contrast to the more somber, "Silence of the Lambs-like" tone of this installment, Colin Cotterill's dialog, always snappy and cynically humorous, reaches new levels as Siri, with his elderly but equally spry new bride Madam Daeng, spars in rich and playful verbal combat - nearly a Southeast Asian version of Joe Lansdale's Hap and Leonard. Cotterill will never disappoint in atmosphere and culture, and again brings a vibrant but forgotten Laos to life, the setting playing as important a role as the finely drawn characters and twisting plot of this little gem. His wry observations of life in a soulless Communist state, sucked colorless by socialism's silly tyrannies masquerading as equality, should sober even the most idealist liberal ("...how wonderful it was to live in a state where the actual person was no longer important.") But Cotterill's goal is not to preach politics, simply to entertain, and he succeeds with honors, spinning a fine balance between mystery, humor, and setting, spinning in enough suspense zigs and a Hitchcockian zags to keep the pages turning.

Colin Cotterill is a talented author, and his "Dr. Siri" series is arguably the freshest, most interesting new fiction to hit the shelves this century. It is a shame that writing and storytelling of this quality remains mostly undiscovered literature - one can hope the author and his canny Laotian coroner will eventually get the recognition they deserve.