The Coroners Lunch cover art

The Coroners Lunch

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The Coroners Lunch

By: Colin Cotterill
Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
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About this listen

Laos, 1972. The Communist Pathet Lao has taken over. Most of the educated class has fled, but 72-year-old Dr Siri Paiboun, a Paris-trained doctor, remains and is appointed state coroner. When three bodies are recovered from a reservoir, Dr.Siri establishes the cause of death was not drowning - they seem to have been electrocuted. And then there is the inexplicable death of a Party bigwig's wife at a banquet. Dr.Siri doesn't think her death was from natural causes. In the course of his investigations, he travels to his birthplace, where he makes a discovery....

©2007 Colin Cotterill (P)2011 Oakhill Publishing Ltd Genre Fiction Historical Medical Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction

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Critic reviews

"[T]his debut mystery, with its convincing and highly interesting portrayal of an exotic locale, marks the author as someone to watch." ( Publishers Weekly)
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Set in Laos during their time as a communist nation, the main character is forced to move from being a surgeon to being a coroner. Reluctant, he has little choice. However, what makes it worse is when he starts being visited by the dead in the night. This magic realism is then coupled with a thriller type crime plot when some dead Vietnamese bodies turn up who seem to have been tortured by the Laos state. Unexpected and enjoyable!

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dr siri having spent his life healing the sick finds himself at the age of 72 filling the post of coroner dealing with dead people in more ways than one.<br/.
well written with good characterisation and superbly performed by gareth armston I really enjoyed this first book in the series. the humour added to the enjoyment.

laos 1972

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I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in different cultures and likes a good detective come ghost story. I really liked the characters, too often in a book characters are two dimensional not in this one. I will listen to it again as I am sure I missed some nuances the first time round

Very interesting and different

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a reluctant coroner in the new communist state provides an interesting setting for a good story. excellent listening material.

unusual and captivating

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On the face of it, this is not the sort of book that I would normally buy sonI was surprised to find it in my library.

I started to listen to try to remember what had induced me to buy, certainly the write up did not suggest I would be interested.

Once I stated however I really enjoyed it. The characters were interesting and their interactions realistic. I loved the dry wit and verbal interplay and this made up for the less believable elements of the story.

In all I found it a charming book and an enjoyable read.

I'm not sure when or why I bought this book but...

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i was given this book and plesantly supprised. once i got in to the story i really enjoyed it.

not my usual

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Funny, varied, well read, a great story line.

I really enjoyed this book.

Its a little unusual, but brilliant all the same.

Lovely!

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Came across this by accident, and enjoyed. Well read by GA, although the Viet voices sounded decidedly scottish. Laos is a place that I had not thought off, except as a footnote to the US / Vietnam situation, and I found the novel thought provoking in regard to the idealogical transfer of power to a communist state. I will try more by this author.

Worth a try

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How refreshing to have something original and new. Crime fiction has mushroomed but so much of it is so similar. This is an exotic setting with a delightfully mature protagonist with a history and much wisdom to bring to bear, and with gentle humour. Talented writer so no need for gratuitous violence which mars so many within this genre. The narrator is superb at bringing this story to life.So delighted to have a new literary friend spend time with. No wonder his audience rating is so high on Amazon and he is up for so many book awards.

Bravo! Breath of fresh air!

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