<DIV><p>Praise for the Dr. Siri series:</p> <p>&ldquo;Terrifically beguiling detective novels steeped in local color and history.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>The New York Times Book Review</I></p> <p>&ldquo;Like Dr. Siri, Colin Cotterill has a touch of magic about him.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>The Boston Globe</I></p> <p>&ldquo;A delightfully fresh and eccentric hero.&rdquo;&mdash;John Burdett</p> <p>&ldquo;Unpredictable. . . . Tragically funny and magically sublime.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>Entertainment Weekly</I></p> <p>&ldquo;A crack storyteller and an impressive guide to a little-known culture.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>The Washington Post Book World</I></p> <p>In poverty-stricken 1978 Laos, a man from the city with a truck was &ldquo;somebody,&rdquo; a catch for even the prettiest village virgin. The corpse of one of these bucolic beauties turns up in Dr. Siri&rsquo;s morgue and his curiosity is piqued. The victim was tied to a tree and strangled, but she had not, as the doctor had expected, been raped. And though the victim had smooth, pale skin over most of her body, her hands and feet were gnarled, callused, and blistered.</p> <p>On a trip to the hinterlands, Siri discovers that many women have been killed in this way. He sets out to investigate this unprecedented phenomenon&mdash;a serial killer in peaceful Buddhist Laos&mdash;only to discover when he has identified the murderer that not only pretty maidens are at risk: seventy-three-year-old coroners can be victims too.</p></DIV>