Coroner's Lunch - Hardcover

COLIN COTTERILL was born in London. He has taught in Australia, the United States, and Japan and lived for many years in Laos where he worked for nongovernmental social-service organizations. He now writes full time and lives in Thailand. His books have been Book Sense Picks, and he won the Dilys Award and a Crime Writers' Association Library Dagger for Thirty-Three Teeth.

''A wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery . . . If Cotterill . . . had done nothing more than treat us to Siri's views on the dramatic, even comic crises that mark periods of government upheaval, his debut mystery would still be fascinating. But the multiple cases spread out on Siri's examining table . . . are not cozy entertainments but substantial crimes that take us into the thick of political intrigue.'' --New York Times Book Review

''The sights, smells, and colors of Laos practically jump of the pages of this inspired, often wryly witty first novel.'' --Denver Post

''In Siri, Cotterill has created a detective as distinctive as Maigret or Poirot.'' --Orlando Sentinel

''The Soho Press crime series . . . has done mystery connoisseurs everywhere a favor by adding Colin Cotterill to its publishing list. The author gives us exotic locations; a world that few of us know well; crisp, intelligent, and often witty writing; and, most of all, a hero unlike any other.'' --Philadelphia Inquirer

''Engaging . . .This debut mystery, with its convincing and highly interesting portrayal of an exotic locale, marks the author as someone to watch.'' --Publishers Weekly

''If Siri lives long enough, he'll make a wry, eccentric addition to the genre.'' --Booklist (starred review)

''This series kickoff is an embarrassment of riches: Holmesian sleuthing, political satire, and [a] droll comic study of a prickly late bloomer.'' -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

''This is a winner.'' --Mystery Scene