A humorous novel about a serious subject

on the river that separates Laos from Viet-Nam. They are smuggling something into Laos.

We shift to a horrifying discovery. In the middle of the night the skeletal remains of a human being were left in a very public spot in the city. Senior Police Inspector Phosy Vongvichai launches an investigation to find out who this unfortunate person was and how and why the victim was dumped there.

While Siri is involved in what ensues, this is really Phosy’s book. Phosy is determined to solve this crime even if he has to run afoul of a deeply corrupt judicial system. Siri, Phosy, and a group of determined friends and colleagues devise a way to get to the bottom of this confusing case. Siri’s wife, Madam Daeng, serves the best noodles in town and she employs a young couple who have Down syndrome. They work hard and they possess special gifts; they can communicate with animals and they know what animals are thinking and feeling.

This brings us to the unpleasant themes. Laos was the epicenter of criminal rings that were smuggling exotic animals for profit. These creatures were being kept in appalling conditions. The majority of them were either killed to harvest their body parts or died during transit to zoos. Cotterill writes:

“the walls of Vilai’s house had been decorated with the types of animal heads you’d expect to find on the walls of cowardly hunters.

But the old man had done nothing to deserve the trophies other than wait for the enslaved beasts to die slowly in captivity.”

This book could convince some readers to become vegetarians.