The Coroner's Lunch
Quotes from the Book
Honesty can be a dirty gift. It can muddy a sparkling stream of memories.
So, there it was in a nutshell. Poverty led him to religion, religion to education, education to lust, lust to communism. And Communism had brought him back full circle to poverty.
May I ask how your revolution's going? Revolutions always go more smoothly around a campfire in the jungle than they do in real life.
THERE MIGHT BE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MOON'S ENERGY WHEN IT'S FULL AND THE ELECTRICAL IMPULSES IN THE BRAIN.
IT WAS LIKE RIDING INTO THE BLAST OF A HAIR-DRYER SET ON HOT.
A GOOD LIE IN THE RIGHT PLACE CAN MAKE UP FOR ANY NUMBER OF WRONGS.
She was constantly surprising him. Siri went over and held up Mr. A’s hand. All the fingertips were purple: triplicate syndrome.
SHE LAY BACK THERE IN THE LARGE CAGE, TOOK HOLD OF A BUNCH OF LADYFINGER BANANAS IN BOTH PAWS, SQUEEZED THEM LIKE A CONCERTINA PLAYER, AND SUCKED OUT THE DELICIOUS FRUIT.
I FIND THAT MORE AND MORE PEOPLE FAIL TO SEE THINGS THAT ARE RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES.
IT WAS THE TYPE OF DAY THAT COULD WILT A METAL GATEPOST.
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About Colin Cotterill
More by Colin Cotterill
The Coroner's Lunch
About the book
Dr. Siri Paiboun, one of the last doctors left in Laos after the Communist takeover, has been drafted to be national coroner. He is untrained for the job, but this independent seventy-two-year-old has an outstanding qualification for the role: curiosity. And he does not mind incurring the wrath of the party's hierarchy as he unravels mysterious murders, because the spirits of the dead are on his side—and a little too close for comfort. Dr. Siri performs autopsies and begins to solve the mysteries relating to a series of deaths by what seem to be bear bites, to explain why a government official ran at full speed through a seventh-story window and fell to his death, and to discover the origins of the two charred bodies from the crashed helicopter in the temple at Luang Prabang. As it turns out, not surprisingly, not all is peaceful and calm in the new Communist paradise of Laos.
Book details
- First published
- 2005
- Author
- Colin Cotterill
- Genre
- Mystery
- Goodreads rating
- 4.00 (7k ratings)
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