'Love Songs from a shallow Grave' is the seventh novel featuring Siri Paiboon, the only coroner in post-revolution Laos in the late 1970s.
Three young women are skewered by a type of sword, usually used for fencing competitions. Only, when they are used for in competition, they do not feature sharpened points.
All three of them had previously been dispatched for further studies to Eastern Europe. Some of the crimes occurred at a government compound, and the Vietnamese security force in Vientiane may also be implicated. Is a psychopath on the loose in Vientiane? What is the connection with Eastern Europe?
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Love Songs from a shallow Grave by Colin Cotterill |
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Siri Paiboon, while being the only coroner in Vientiane, is also a very gifted amateur detective, and uses his deductive skills to solve the crime. For the manual work, he has many helpers, not least his good friend Phosy at the local police force.
Interestingly, a short biography of Siri Paiboon is provided as an introduction to the novel. However, it is hardly complete. We learn that he worked in the jungles of Laos and Vietnam between 1940 and 1975(!), without much elaboration.
The same reliable characters that we know from previous books by the author, reappear. Siri is married now. He still hangs out regularly with his old revolutionary friend Civilai. There are the nurses and staff at the morgue. While they seem to have helped the revolution before, they now all moan and groan about life in Laos in the 1970s (not much has changed up to this day). Nevertheless, altogether they are a happy bunch, having their own small and big personal and relational problems. They may not be wealthy and the circumstances in Laos are dire, but they have a well functioning social network.
While being a coroner, Siri has to rely on the basics. Even fingerprinting is an obscure art in the 1970s in Laos.
Laos is muddling along with its ineffective and bureaucratic communist regime. What the Khmer Rouge are up to in Cambodia is quite a bit more disturbing.
It so happens that Siri and his friend Civilai are asked to go on some official visit to the southern neighbour. They do not realize they are asked, because more senior officials are reluctant to go to. The stay in Khmer Rouge Cambodia forms the most interesting part of this novel. We have to assume that Colin Coterill makes it all up, since it is unlikely he witnessed the events himself.
Siri Paiboon is his usual self while visiting Phnom Penh. The official Lao delegation is heavily guarded and basically sequestered in a run-down hotel. The Lao ambassador to Cambodia, manages to have Siri meet some locals hiding in the embassy, hoping that Siri, when going back home, will tell the true story of what is happening under the Khmer Rouge. That however is not enough for our hero. He wants to explore Phnom Penh all by himself, and when doing so, he gets himself into trouble. Colin Cotterill gives us a credible impression of the horrors under Khmer Rouge rule. There is a saying quoted a few times in this novel : "Whatever your situation, there is always someone worse off, unless you are a Cambodian".
What happened in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, is a very dark page in the history of South-East Asia. The Vietnamese have to be commended for eventually salvaging the country by invading it. And the tragedy did not end in the aftermath of Khmer Rouge rule. The perpetrators remained free, and only now when most are dead or elderly, some are brought to justice. It shows also the disadvantages of the Asean policy of non-intervention in other countries' affairs.
By the way, the usual crowd of ghosts and spirits continue to visit Siri Paiboon, also keeping him company during his time in prison in Phnom Penh. Fortunately they just form a colorful background, and do not interfere with his detective work. |
