“In the Curse of the Pogo Stick. . . . [Colin] Cotterill achieves a new and compelling sophistication.”—John Burdett

Praise for the Dr. Siri Paiboun Series:

“Wonderfully fresh and exotic.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Tragically funny and magically sublime.”—Entertainment Weekly

“A crack storyteller and an impressive guide to a little-known culture.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Delightful.”—Booklist (starred)

“This witty and unusual series just keeps getting better.”—Publishers Weekly

In Vientiane, a booby-trapped corpse, intended for Dr. Siri, the national coroner of Laos, has been delivered to the morgue. In his absence, only Nurse Dtui’s intervention saves the lives of the morgue attendants, visiting doctors, and Madame Daeng, Dr. Siri’s fiancée.

On his way back from a communist party meeting in the north, Dr. Siri is kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers under the direction of the village elder so that he will—in the guise of Yeh Ming, the thousand-year-old shaman with whom he shares his body—exorcise the headman’s daughter whose soul is possessed by a demon, and lift the curse of the pogo stick.