Woman Who Wouldn't Die, The

Wonderful to see Dr. Siri back... but this ninth in the series is as much or more about Daeng as it is about Dr. Siri.... This series has been completely satisfying since the beginning and as with previous books, is filled with humor, humanity, and the spirit in many guises. 100% treat!

Original review at <br /><a href="http://www.crimefictionlover.com/2013/03/the-woman-who-wouldnt-die/" rel="nofollow noopener">Crime Fiction Lover</a><br /><br />The setting is Vientiane, Laos in the late 1970s. The country’s only coroner, Dr Siri Paiboun, now retired, is recalled to oversee the search for the body of the brother of a high-ranking minister. This was initiated when the corpse’s location was approximated by an informant. Incidentally, the informant was a local witch who herself was murdered, cremated, rose from the dead as a clairvoyant, and now takes on the occasional missing persons case.<br /><br />If you’re new to the author, Cotterill’s special brand of noir may require a caveat or two. The Dr Siri Paiboun series of novels are essentially police procedurals, replete with thrills, suspense, and brutal murders. But here’s the thing. They are hilariously funny, deeply humane, and firmly grounded in the supernatural. The Cotterill library of noodle noir, which includes his new Jim Juree mystery series, serves equally well as a travel guide to the land, culture, and cuisine of Laos.<br /><br />The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die is the ninth installment in the series. Laos is under Communist rule and Siri Paiboun, a doctor, Sorbonne scholar, and disillusioned idealist, expects a well-deserved retirement as a dutiful party member. Instead, the higher-ups appoint him the Party’s official coroner. Although he loves a good mystery, he discovers that his real function is damage control when the authorities need to deal with a high-profile death. In Communist Laos, one’s survival depends less on rusty Soviet weapons than on guile and a sense of humour to avoid the threat of re-education camps or worse, state-sanctioned disappearance. Dr. Siri’s investigative team includes an overqualified nurse, an assistant with Down’s Syndrome, a former revolutionary, and an insider police inspector. They are more like a family than detective unit.<br /><br />As The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die opens, the aged coroner is not so reluctant to travel to yet another remote jungle. He is excited by the prospect of a genuine clairvoyant helping him with one of his biggest problems – he often sees the spirits of the dead, but he can’t talk to them. These spirits turn up unexpectedly to give him clues concerning his murder cases that are so vague that they only become clear after he solves them. Siri’s body is also inhabited by the spirit of a 1000-year-old shaman whose reticence is no help at all in the struggle to develop his gift. He finds himself closed off in the midst of the spirit world like someone watching television with the sound off.<br /><br />As Siri’s wife, Madame Daeng, the former revolutionary turned noodle shop proprietor, is naturally jealous of the witch, but becomes genuinely suspicious of her true nature. Meanwhile, a dejected homicidal lover from Daeng’s past is making inquiries about her in the local villages in order to enact bloody revenge. The killer’s motives are illuminated by entries from Daeng’s memoirs, where loyal readers of the Dr Siri series finally get a glimpse of her colourful past as a secret agent. As Siri heads up river, his team launches a parallel investigation to verify the alleged witch’s past while Daeng’s stalker wreaks havoc on Siri’s village.<br /><br />When it looks like the puzzle of the missing body and the identity of the witch may form part of a larger scheme involving old war secrets, the story’s final act involves no less than 15 elephants, 1000 forest spirits, and an army of Vietnamese engineers. Siri has another strange vision, and this time the denizens of the spirit world are finally communicating. Just as the paths of all the characters converge at the Mekhong River, so the threads of the story come together to reveal that nothing is what is seems and not everyone survives the revelations.<br /><br />Cotterill’s best yet, this is recommended for fans of whodunits in exotic locales who don’t mind their forensics flavored with Indochinese history and superstition, and a detective who gives them a belly laugh or two.<br />

When the Revolution erupted in Laos, in the 1970′s, Dr. Siri Paiboun was a grumpy widower with no faith in man, no tolerance for nonsense, and not a whole lot to live for. When the Communists essentially press-ganged him into being the national coroner (all other candidates had fled, or been shot) he wasn’t very happy about it. But when a genuine mystery was placed in front of him, he somehow managed to overcome his situation and solve it, as well awaken a wise but irritating ghost that had been lurking inside of his soul for all those years.<br /><br />That was quite a few novels ago. In that time, Siri has learned to walk the line between revolutionary appearances and counter-revolutionary mischief — using his position to see that the right thing gets done, and keep ordinary people from being strangled by communist bungling. He’s learned more about the ancient spirit he’s sharing a body with, and has used that connection to solve cases in more than one realm. And he’s also fallen in love, again, and married, and actually looking forward to the future, even if he has to tweak the noses of the revolutionaries to get there.<br /><br />Of course, that’s about when things get interesting in a deadly sort of way.<br /><br />For one thing, there’s this well-to-do village woman who was shot and killed by a burglar. The villagers saw her die, and burned her body, but now she’s back from the dead as if nothing happened. And she claims that she can speak with the dead she’d temporarily been alongside, which has led to a weird situation where a Lao General might be letting her help him find the long-lost remains of his dead brother.<br /><br />As a fellow clairvoyant, Dr. Siri feels that he owes it to check out her story, and so he and his wife take a bit of a working vacation. It’s a chance to hob-nob with the higher-ups, after all, and there’s nothing more than Siri likes doing than enjoying their hospitality while getting to poke fun at them. And the fact that the returned woman is quite the looker is a nice side benefit — much to his wife’s chagrin.<br /><br />But while they’re gone, a strange and dangerous fellow comes into their town, searching for his wife. It would seem that, a long time ago, she had an encounter with this fellow, and it left him the worse for wear. Now he’s back and wants revenge, but what exactly did she do?<br /><br />Both mysteries are going to dump Siri and his wife into bad history and old blood, and he’ll have to really flex his spiritual muscles — as well as dodge his wife’s flashes of jealousy — if he’s to discover the secret of The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die.<br /><br />Fans of this long-running series will not be disappointed by its latest chapter; Dr. Siri is a hoot, as always, and his methods of finding out the truth are both unique and very human. But his wife’s full story, finally told in this novel, is as much of a star attraction as the mystery, itself. Expect to be up late reading this, because once the full scope of what’s going on is revealed, you will not want to put it down for fear of who might next suffer for the sins of the past.

First Line: Madame Keui was flesh and blood, or so they claimed, although nobody could remember touching that rewarmed flesh, nor seeing her bleed; not even when a second bullet passed through her. <br /><br />Well into his seventies, Dr. Siri Paiboun, national coroner of Laos, has finally been allowed to retire and enjoy life with his wife, Madame Daeng. But a general insists that Siri go with him to a remote village to find the remains of his long-lost brother, along with Madame Keui, a woman who returned from the funeral pyre as a clairvoyant. <br /><br />Seeing that he must go, Siri makes certain that there are a few perks included with the trip. He's taking Madame Daeng and Mr. Geung, his former morgue assistant. And it seems that this is an auspicious time to go on a journey: there's a tall, handsome, older Frenchman who's been asking around Vientiane for the whereabouts of Dr. Siri's wife, and Dr. Siri doesn't like that one little bit. Little does he know that Madame Daeng might have something to be jealous about herself, since he seems to be falling under the spell of the pretty clairvoyant. Dr. Siri may not be aware of Madame Daeng's jealousy, but he is aware that there's more to this trip along the Mekong River than finding the remains of a big wig's brother. He only hopes that things don't turn deadly.<br /><br />There were rumors flying around after the publication of 2011's Slash and Burn that there would be no more Dr. Siri books, and I'm thrilled to find the rumors to be false. The characters that long-time fans of the series have come to know and love are here in full force, along with all the gentle humor and the cunning logic of Dr. Siri himself. An added bonus of The Woman Who Wouldn't Die is that we learn more about Madame Daeng's past-- and an interesting past it is indeed. Siri encourages her to write her memoirs, and in them we learn that Madame Daeng was attracted to Siri from the moment she first saw him many years ago:<br /><br /> <i>"...Dr. Siri Paiboun...was a dashing, funny. intelligent man who taught us the real reason we should be proud. Not because some ancient king massacred another's army but because we were human beings. We had rights. We deserved respect."</i><br /><br />Getting to see this married couple in their youth is a treat, even though it is served up with a side dish of sadness as we learn how Laos and its people have been treated through the centuries.<br /><br />What makes this book the best in an excellent series is its plot. Cotterill ratchets up the suspense and dread to an almost unbearable degree as first one beloved character then another faces death. (When a killer walked into the building where Nurse Dtui was working, I exclaimed, "Oh, no you don't!" (Yes, I did say that aloud, and no, no one was in the room to hear me. Besides, I don't know what I thought I was going to do to save her anyway!) One of the reasons why Colin Cotterill's characters are so beloved is because they are good people: they treat everyone as human beings, they treat everyone with respect-- and when you read stories about such people who are also filled with love and humor and wit, you can't help but care deeply about them, too.<br /><br />If you've never read one of the Dr. Siri mysteries, please... pick up this one and read it. Chances are you'll love the story, you'll love reading about life in Laos in the 1970s, and you'll go crazy for Dr. Siri and the rest of the superb cast. And don't be surprised if you find yourself getting your hands on all the rest of the books in the series.

It seems that these Dr. Siri novels have become an addiction for me. As soon as I read that a new one had been published, I immediately requested it on my Kindle so that I could read it right away. I was not disappointed. It is another romp through 1978 Laos with Siri and his posse of oddball family and friends.<br /><br />Siri has finally managed to achieve his long desired goal of retiring from his post as the national coroner of Laos, but three months into his long awaited retirement, the 84-year-old doctor is called on again by his government to perform a service for them.<br /><br />The backstory is that a clairvoyant has told a Lao general that she can locate the remains of his long-dead brother so that they can be given a proper ceremony. The general is convinced to give her the opportunity and requests the pathologist's presence to verify the identity of the bones when they are excavated.<br /><br />But, back to that clairvoyant. Allegedly, she became clairvoyant and able to communicate with the dead by being killed and then reborn herself. She was the widow of a rich royalist who had dealings with Vietnamese commercial interests and connections to the Lao hierarchy. Following a trip to Vietnam to pursue her commercial interests, she returned home and was murdered in her bed, shot in the head by an apparent burglar. The villagers took her body and cremated it, but, a couple of days later, there she was, back alive and at home again. <br /><br />Soon, a steady stream of visitors was coming through the village, requesting her help in contacting their dead relatives. Her reputation grew and the general and his wife heard of her and contacted her.<br /><br />The medium tells the Lao general that his brother is buried in a boat sunk at a certain bend in the depths of the Mekhong River. The delegation, including Siri, his wife Madame Daeng, and Mr. Geung from the morgue, heads out to excavate the river. But Madame Daeng is very suspicious. Something seems wrong to her. Will they really be excavating for bones or is it all a ruse to look for something else? Is this whole thing an elaborate scam? Is the medium really <i>The Woman Who Wouldn't Die</i>? And why do there seem to be so many Vietnamese in the area?<br /><br />Meantime, Siri and Daeng have become aware that a Frenchman is looking for her. Daeng suspects that he is a ghost from her revolutionary past who may be seeking revenge for her work as a highly effective spy for the Lao during the recent war. Does he present a threat to Siri's beloved wife and maybe to Siri as well? <br /><br />As always, Cotterill writes lovingly of the Lao people and culture. The best part of these stories is the relationships between his main characters and those relationships are on full display here. This is another pleasurable read in this charming series that also gives us a window into a perhaps still little understood but very interesting part of the world.

I truly enjoy this series and can't wait until the next one. Without revealing any spoiler, Colin Cotterill left an open storyline for the next book at the end of this one.<br /><br />When I am reading new authors and new titles, I find that I will like some of the new ones but others are not quite what I was hoping for. I have recently had this happen. That's when I like to return to the series books that I follow and those books do not disappoint. This book was one such case. I saw a new Dr. Siri was released and was so glad to revisit an old friend. Some of the secondary characters in this series, such as Madame Daeng, Crazy Rajid, and Auntie Bpoo, played more prominent roles in the story and I like getting to know each of them. This is a fascinating community of characters in Laos and I intend to stay a visitor with them.

I was disappointed that Dr. Siri actually retired as national coroner, and TBH, I was a bit let down by the mystery, too. I liked that the notoriously cynical Siri was fooled for once by a charming woman. <br /><br />I was heartbroken for Dr. Siri that his carefully and secretly gathered library was destroyed. ? But I loved what Cotterill wrote: “His books died loved.”<br /><br />Any disappointment in the mystery part was more than offset by learning Madame Daeng’s marvelous backstory! And I had a feeling <b>someone </b>, one of the recurring characters, would die in the story, and I figured it would be either Auntie Bpoo or Madame Daeng. No spoilers here, though!<br /><br />

I really love this series. One of my favourites.

‘There used to be a woman in our village who …’<br /><br />In a small Lao village, a woman was shot and killed in her bed. Everyone in the village attended her funeral, and saw her burn on her funeral pyre. But three days later, she was home - with new skills. Now Madame Used-To-Be is clairvoyant, and can communicate with the dead. Just the person to help the long-dead brother of a Lao general! This long-dead brother needs Madame Used-To-Be to help his brother uncover his long-lost remains from their resting place at the bottom of a river.<br /><br />‘A man has only so many hands, Judge. Would you accept a finger?’<br /><br />Dr Siri Paiboun, Lao national coroner, is sent to supervise the recovery. His wife, Madame Daeng accompanies him. It could be a vacation of sorts: Madame Daeng is writing her memoirs, Dr Siri is happy to leave home for a while – but is he paying too much attention to Madame Used-To-Be? After all, she is a very attractive and intriguing woman. Madame Daeng doesn’t trust her: is this jealousy, or something else?<br /><br /> ‘Governor Siri had managed to alienate everyone in under three minutes. A remarkable feat.’<br /><br />Another action-packed adventure for Dr Siri and friends. They have a few mysteries to solve, including the truth about Madame Used-To-Be. Just what is everyone interested in at the bottom of the river? At the same time, someone is searching for Madame Daeng – the key is somewhere in her past. There’s plenty of action and while it all makes perfect sense (!) by the end, it’s not always easy to separate red herrings from subtle clues.<br /><br />‘One problem with communication between Vientiane and Sanyaburi was the absence of a telephone line.’<br /><br />This is the ninth Dr Siri novel, full of twists and turns and humorous observation. While each novel could be read and enjoyed on a standalone basis, it’s so much more fun to read them in order. <br /><br />Jennifer Cameron-Smith

A return for me to Vientiane Laos in the mid 1970s and to the continuing story of the now officially retired Dr Siri Pouboun.<br /><br />As I may have said before about this series, these books always leave you with a warm feeling and a smile on your face. This is most unexpected as it is set against the shortages , depravation and coruption of the Pathet Lao communist government.<br /><br />How do you start to describe this book? There are a couple of mysteries to solve, supernatural goings on, many amusing passages. It is a love story and a history lesson all rolled into one with such an eclectic cast of characters that I have come to know so well as the series has progressed.<br /><br />Colin Cotterill is a wonderful story teller with a brilliant descriptive writing manner.<br />If you are feeling a bit low or perhaps may have just finished a particularly heavy or dark read, and are in need of cheering up, then start this series. This is my 9th book and it hasnt let me down yet.