For another book by Colin Cotterill : Curse of the Pogo Stick
Colin Cotterill is a London-born crime writer and cartoonist, now living in Thailand. He has held jobs as a teacher, spent several years in Laos, was involved in child protection in Southeast Asia, set up an NGO in Phuket and worked with ECPAT, an organization fighting child prostitution and pornography. He has written columns and provided cartoons for local newspapers like the Bangkok Post and The Nation.
The last decade he started writing novels. The Merry Misogynist is the sixth in a series featuring Dr. Siri Paiboon, a septuagenarian coroner and investigator in Laos.
In time, this latest book is situated in 1978, just a few years after a change in regime in Laos. The Pathet Lao took over power in Laos in 1975 and established the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR Lao). Laos in 1978 is dour and dusty, run by a communist (or rather, a bureaucratic) regime. Except for a few guns, cars, and telephones, the country seems stuck somewhere in the 16th century.
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The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill |
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Dr. Siri, way past retirement age, is the main coroner (or only one) in Vientiane. People may be dirt poor, but life for Dr. Siri and his wife Daeng is never dull. They have a wide circle of friends, and the novel relates a lot of little stories of them, wandering around Vientiane.
A young beautiful women is found in the countryside, and brought to Dr. Siri's morgue. The good doctor establishes that the young beauty has been strangled. Apparently she has been deflowered by a pestle. Except for her hands and feet, the girl's body never seems to have seen any sunlight, a feature that turns out to be useful in her identification. In the subsequent weeks it turns out other young girls have disappeared and have been murdered in similar circumstances. With the help of his good friend, police detective Phosy, Dr. Siri sets out to find the presumed serial killer.
Laos is ruled by a bureaucratic communist government. As a result it is actually quite difficult to travel around the country from province to province without good documentation and travel papers. This will eventually limit the number of potential murderers, and help in catching the perpetrator.
Various short interludes introduces us to the actual murderer, going by the name of Phan. We get an insight in his modus operandi, and the reason behind his revulsive crimes. Maybe the latter is a weakness in the book, personally we found it just a bit simplistic.
Colin Cotterill presumably uses his insight into child prostitution and abuse, to picture the way of thinking of young women in the countryside. They are looking for a better life, and when they meet an apparently rich young man from Vientiane, possessing a truck, and working for a government agency, they are easy prey.
This novel offers an interesting fluid read. We visited Laos a few times in the later 1990s, and can relate to the descriptions of the author (Laos has changed just a bit lately, with more hotels and tourists than before).
Solving a murder, set in 1978 and in Laos, does not allow for a lot of forensic evidence or technological feats. It just comes down to deductive thinking and personal enterprise. Eventually our investigative team (Dr. Siri, his wife Daeng, and detective Phosy) are able to prevent another murder and eliminate the perpetrator. There is a surprising little twist at the end when this happens.
We have been reading Thailand-related novels for many years. Somehow we never picked up one of Colin Cotterill's novels, but are glad we picked up this one.
The books (also previous novels in the series) are available at Kinokuniya, we did not see them at Asia Books last time we checked. At the time of this writing, The Merry Misogynist was only available in hardcover, just a bit pricier, so you may want to wait till it comes out as a paperback.
Curse of the Pogo Stick
Curse of the Pogo Stick a the Colin Cotterill novel preceding The Merry Misogynist.
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Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill |
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After an official party conference in the North of Laos, Dr. Siri Paiboon, is travelling in a small convoy of cars on hardly passable roads. The convoy is ambushed, and Dr. Siri Paiboon is kidnapped by a group of mostly female Hmongs. The Hmong are after the services of Yeh Ming, a old shaman who resides in the body of Dr. Siri. They need her help to exorcise a young woman, apparently possessed by a demon.
The kidnappers are rather sympathetic, and Dr. Siri has to fight off female advances. He is well aware he can not simply summon the spirits that inhabit his body (they appear of their own free will only), but decides to go along with his kidnappers, and performs the exorcism. While he is doubtful about his performance, he somehow gets into a trance, and reaches the Otherworld, which resembles a city in the United States (there must be a message here). However, he does not succeed in helping the young female possessed victim.
While spirits play an important role in this story, it is all more funny than frightening. Dr. Siri tries more to rely on his rationality to solve the problem, and somehow figures out what it is all about.
We get to know a bit about the Hmong in Laos and the author portrays them as sympathetic. Their predicament is simple. For probably centuries, they have lived in the highlands and could sustain themselves. These days are now over, with the emergence of the 'nation' states, trying to incorporate everyone within their borders. Gone is their admittedly difficult, but independent life style..
Just for an historic reference : Some Hmong helped the communist rebels, some Hmong helped and fought with the Americans during the Secret War in Laos (at the same time as the Vietnam War). When the war ended in Laos in 1975 and the Royalist were defeated, the Hmong arrived in dire straits. Lots of them managed to cross the border into Thailand, lots of them perished along the way, those remaining in Laos are less than desired citizens. Quite a few Hmong now reside in the United States, a big chunk also in Thailand. Just recently at the beginning of 2010, Thailand repatriated 1,500 to Laos against their will, and against the advice of international organizations.
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A pogo stick, a toy like implement used for jumping about. Picture courtesy of Wikipedia. |
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What is the 'Curse' of the Polo Stick all about? The Hmong that kidnapped Siri seem to have put the Polo Stick with other items on an altar. Before it had been a gift from an American. Personally I did not know what a polo stick was (see picture). Anyway it symbolizes the attractions of all things material and American, tempting the Hmong of Laos to fight the American cause. It turned into a curse when scores of young Hmong men got killed in the fighting, and even worse when the Royalists lost the war. Better than suffering the curse, the Hmong decided to worship it. It is interesting to find out at the end where the Polo Stick finds a new home. A side story happens in Vientiane, while Dr. Siri is up north. An old Royalist women holds some grudges and stufs a corpse with explosives. The corpse is supposed to be examined at the morgue where Dr. Siri normally works, but fortunately the plot is discovered. There is another attempt to murder the good friends of Dr. Siri at the hospital, but eventually they all work together and the perpetrators are caught.
The books of Colin Cotterill cover the adventures of Dr. Siri and his friends in Vientiane. Characters evolve in the different books. Therefore there is some benefit in reading the early books before the latest ones (though this in of course not completely necessary).
'Curse of the Polo Stick' is a fluid and recommended, though short read. Available at 444 baht at Kinokuniya. We did not see the book at Asia Books.
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