Yes, that’s right, my pick for New Classic Reads is a Laotian coroner you have probably never heard of — but should absolutely pick up — called the Dr. Siri Paiboun series. As a reader,  a classic is a book that presents familiar ideas in a new way, whether through characters, setting, or inventive plot. The Dr. Siri stories accomplish all three; murder mysteries set in a unique corner of the world and featuring a cast of original characters that make me jealous I didn’t think of them. Another aspect to a classic: the author has created a work all to (in this case) his own which cannot be mimicked as a fad.

Few people know where the country is (a landlocked country that borders Thailand and Vietnam).

I stumbled across the series when doing research for my  upcoming novel set in Laos in the 1970s. There’s a dirth of fiction set in Laos — volumes against the turbulent times in Cambodia, Thailand, and of course, Vietnam.

Full of history, culture, crime, and mystery, this seventy plus year old coroner is not only a shaman for spirits, he also solves crimes.  The author, Colin Cotterill, is English and has lived in Southeast Asia for some time. He is my hero for bringing this part of the

world to life in such vivid and cantankerous prose.

Here’s the cover of the first book in the series. And the great thing about a series, is that you can firmly fall in love with these characters because there are over ten books.

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