Dr Siri
3 primary works
Book 1
Laos, 1976. The monarchy has been deposed, the Communist Pathet Lao have taken over. Most of the educated class has fled, but Dr Siri Paiboun, a Paris-trained doctor remains. And so this 72-year-old physician is appointed state coroner, despite having no training, equipment, experience or even inclination for the job. But the job's not that bad and Siri quickly settles into a routine of studying outdated medical texts, scrounging scarce supplies, and circumnavigating bureaucratic red tape to arrive at justice. The fact that the recently departed are prone to pay Siri the odd, unwanted nocturnal visit turns out to be an added bonus in his new line of work. But when the wife of a party leader turns up dead and the bodies of tortured Vietnamese soldiers start bobbing to the surface of a Laotian lake, all eyes turn to Siri. Faced with official cover-ups and an emerging international crisis, the doctor enlists old friends, village shamans,forest spirits, dream visits from the dead - and even the occasional bit of medical deduction - to solve the crimes.
Book 2
The reluctant national coroner of Laos, Dr. Siri Paiboun, is no respecter of persons or Party; at the age of seventy-two he can afford to be independent. In this latest investigation, Dr. Siri, dubbed “Super Spirit Doc,” travels from his home base to Luang Prabang where he communes with a deposed king, who is convinced he lost his kingdom because his special channel to the occult closed, and he attends a conference of shamans called by the Communist government to deliver an ultimatum to the spirits: obey Party orders or get out.
Something wild and evil has been let loose in the city of Vientiane and a series of mutilated corpses lands in Dr. Siri’s morgue. With the assistance of his helpers – Mr. Geung, a mentally challenged lab technician, and Nurse Dtui, whose nickname means “Fatty” – Dr. Siri investigates these strange deaths. But it is only when Nurse Dtui is threatened that the prickly, independent doctor can identify the creature, animal or spirit that has been slaying the innocent.
Something wild and evil has been let loose in the city of Vientiane and a series of mutilated corpses lands in Dr. Siri’s morgue. With the assistance of his helpers – Mr. Geung, a mentally challenged lab technician, and Nurse Dtui, whose nickname means “Fatty” – Dr. Siri investigates these strange deaths. But it is only when Nurse Dtui is threatened that the prickly, independent doctor can identify the creature, animal or spirit that has been slaying the innocent.
Book 3
Dr Siri Paiboun, reluctant national coroner of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos, is summoned to a remote location in the mountains of Huaphan Province, where for years the leaders of the current government had hidden out in caves, waiting to assume power. Now, as a major celebration of the new regime is scheduled to take place, an arm is found protruding from the concrete walk that was laid from the President’s former cave hideout to his new house beneath the cliffs. Dr Siri is ordered to supervise the disinterment of the body attached to the arm, identify the corpse, and discover how he died.