I was so pleased to spy this book in Readers Feast in Melbourne when I was down there last month, and very pleased that I noticed it sitting there when I was wondering around looking for something to follow up from The Ihaka Trilogy - sometimes settling for something new after such a tremendous set of 3 books can be tricky. Of course the only problem is that now I'm waiting for another Dr Siri to hang onto as my perfect reading option....
From the Blurb:
As usual, all is abnormal in Dr Siri Paiboun's morgue. The good doctor and his team are investigating the case of the Three Epées: three women skewered by a sword through the heart. A culprit has been apprehended, tried and sentenced to death. But Siri isn't sure they have the right man.
Opening Lines:
I celebrate the dawn of my seventy-fourth birthday hand-cuffed to a lead pipe. I'd had something more traditional in mind; a few drinks with my new wife, some gay mo lum music on the record player, shellfish plucked fresh from the Mekhong.
Three young Laotian women have died of fencing sword wounds. Each of them had studied abroad in an Eastern bloc country. Before he can complete his investigation, Dr. Siri is lured to Cambodia by a free all expenses paid trip. Accused of spying for the Vietnamese, he is imprisoned, beaten and threatened with death. The Khmer Rouge are relentless—it is touch and go for the dauntless, now seventy-four-year-old national—and only—coroner of Laos.