Six and a Half Deadly Sins (A Dr. Siri Paiboun Mystery)
By: Colin Cotterill
Rating: 4.5 of 5
“Six and a Half Deadly Sins” is the first book in this series that I have read. I often read books in the middle of a series. In some, it is fairly easy to pick up the action and move forward and with others, it is a little more difficult. This book is one of the latter. It took me a bit to understand what was going on and it was evident that had I read the earlier books, that would not be the case. That is not a detractor for me, just something that I feel I should comment on as a reviewer. My suggestion is to read this series in order to get the most from the story. If, on the other hand, you jump in as I did, expect there to be a slight learning curve.
Once I got beyond the lack of history, the story became quite compelling and funny. Dr. Siri Paiboun is the sleuth in the story and goes about solving the mystery along with his wife, Daeng, and their good friend, Civilai. Siri is a twice-retired National Coroner of Laos, his wife is an ex-freedom fighter and owner of a noodle restaurant that rather inconveniently was destroyed in a prior book, and Civilai is a political employee whose job and assignments seem to shift as the political wind blows. The three of them decide to head north to investigate a mystery after Siri receives a human finger sewn into the hem of a pha sin (a skirt that is woven in Northern Laos.)
There is a second line to the story about Inspector Phosy, a policeman (and ex-general) who is married to Siri’s ex-nurse/assistant. Inspector Phosy ends up in the same area of Laos investigating another potential crime.
The story shows a country in the midst of great transition, where the laws are changed and re-interpreted every day. There are murders, drugs, cheating, thefts, and misdirection all around. Mixed into the story is a subtext of the very interesting history of the territory. As I was not familiar with it, I looked up events and time-lines that where mentioned in the story and was happy to see that it was all accurately portrayed.
In the end, I enjoyed the book and will go back and read some of the older books as there are still parts I don’t understand, most notably, Siri’s being inhabited by dead spirits. I’m sure that older books will deal with this more in depth. I think that is important as it appears that follow-on books in the series may deal with it in more detail again.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher.
“Six and a Half Deadly Sins” is the first book in this series that I have read. I often read books in the middle of a series. In some, it is fairly easy to pick up the action and move forward and with others, it is a little more difficult. This book is one of the latter. It took me a bit to understand what was going on and it was evident that had I read the earlier books, that would not be the case. That is not a detractor for me, just something that I feel I should comment on as a reviewer. My suggestion is to read this series in order to get the most from the story. If, on the other hand, you jump in as I did, expect there to be a slight learning curve.