“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) “The sights, smells, and colors of Laos practically jump of the pages of this inspired, often wryly witty first novel.”—Denver Post “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.
