AN EMAIL ACQUAINTANCE I’VE NEVER MET suggested a new-to-me author who quickly became a favorite.
My pal in Singapore, who I know thought Enterprise Risk Management, told me about a fellow named COLIN COTTERILL (http://www.colincotterill.com/)
Cotterill is a pretty good mystery writer and a, by me anyway, an interesting cartoonist. (I wish he would illustrate his mysteries, but that won’t happen to the ones already in print.)
Cotterill’s mysteries that I’ve read have two venues: Laos (pronounced Lao – sans “s” – for those who are pedants and exist for the picayunish pleasure of being precise when no one else cares) and Thailand. He lived in Laos and now writes from Thailand. The two countries are separated conveniently by the Mekong River. The border is compliments of the colonial French (vs. the colonial English or colonial Germans or …).
- Cotterill has other books; my library just doesn’t have them.
His books cost US$24 (C$29); I’m not sure how much they cost in kip (Laos currency) or baht (Thailand) – obviously they are educational; I now know the names of currency in two new-to-me countries. I confess, I pay for my books as part of my annual taxes to support the Local Lending Library, a/k/a L3.
Both his Dr. Siri and Jimm Juree books (the former set in the Lao Democratic Republic and the latter set in Thailand) have a cast of recurring characters and a number of “supporting” cast members. A reader doesn’t need to know everything about each of the regulars, but it’s nice to know.
I apparently started reading the Dr. Siri series someplace in the middle. I discovered this when I read Anarchy and Old Dogs, obviously one of the first books in the series. Dr. Siri is Laos’ “trying to retire” national coroner by default. He is, by curiosity, a solver of crimes, always with a little help from his friends.
Jimm Juree by contrast, is a small paper reporter whose main support comes from her family and an openly gay policeman. She gets involved with crime solving as an aside to her (attempts) at reporting.
While I enjoy the books, I wish Cottrell had the forethought to include a pronunciation guide somewhere in the book. I don’t worry too much about place names – although I DID download maps of Laos and Thailand as any pendant would – but the characters’ names. For example, there is a nurse in the Dr. Siri series named Dtui and a friend of the doctor’s named Civilai. At least Civilai is pronounceable, but is it Civil-ai or Civi-lai? Inquiring minds and all that.
My L3 currently has 15 Cotterill books; I have 10 to go. How many books has Cotterill penned – perhaps “keyed” is more accurate; pedantics again – may be determined by visiting his web site (ibid.). I’m pretty sure the L3 lacks a few.
All his Dr. Siri and Jimm Juree are good reads. There are many more of the former, but that might be because Cotterill lives in Laos before moving – for whatever reason – to Thailand.
Cotterill’s books, compared to many I borrow from the L3, are “short stories” of less than 300 8 ½ by 5 ½ inch pages. By comparison, John Verdon’s Peter Pan Must Die – which I have yet to open – is 440 hardcover size pages.
The Cotterill mysteries are good recreational reads. Easily put down and picked up again. Certainly worth my time.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
No comments:
Post a Comment