Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #7) by Colin Cotterill

Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #7) Reviews

• 
  Lizz

  I don’t write reviews.
  
  Absolutely brilliant! I wonder if this is the high-water mark of the series. Both the A and B plots were well-constructed and though basically unrelated, they didn’t clash as competing storylines. Cotterill interwove the first-person narration of the B plot through the novel expertly.
  
  I appreciated the character development the most in this story. Even stoic Phosey opens up. The first-person comes from our lovely doctor himself. Madame Deng gets some great scenes as well. I’m quite impressed with the direction Cotterill is taking. This is hardly your average detective series.
  
  There’s one added bonus to these stories; they show the evil vulgarity of politics. Cotterill makes a point of showing how politics are the true enemy of humanity and love.
• 
  Yeva

  Love Songs From a Shallow Grave was confusing and tortured, and it led me on a ride that was spine-tingling and heart wrenching. I loved this book, but there were so many times I wanted to cry. Sometimes this book felt almost too real. The atrocities that occurred during the seventies in Cambodia and Vietnam were horrific, and this tale gave a sense of reality to what happened there. I was in middle school during that time, and I remembered one of my friends losing her brother. As I read this story, I thought about that. I had a friend I knew as a young adult, and he had been to Vietnam. He was older than I, but he was so messed up.
  
  I know this book is fiction, but I know some of the things described here were similar to things that actually happened, and that made me so sad. Still, I love the resilience of the characters in this series. They have no money, a government that's out of whack, and a national ideology that is like a tape-worm run amuck in the gut of their nation, but they still survive and love and celebrate. I think this series provides great examples of living beyond the circumstances of life and finding joy and meaning in the hard times as well as the times when life just seems mundane.
• 
  Andrea

  2.5★ for my seventh outing with Dr Siri & Co. It's not that the series is tired - or that I'm tired of it - it's just that this instalment was a bit different to the others. Usually there is a strong, central police/coronial mystery at the heart of the story, and around the edges we enjoy further building of the main characters and progress of their life-story arc. But this time it was like both parts were given equal weight; like the mystery wasn't strong enough on its own.
  
  It's Laos in 1978. Over a deadly weekend in Vientiane, three women are murdered with the same unusual weapon - a fencing épée. Inspector Phosy and Dr Siri are on the case. Meanwhile, Civilai has been invited to Phnom Penh on a public relations junket and has nominated Siri as his travelling companion. Siri doesn't really want to go as the murder case hasn't yet been solved, but he has happy memories of visiting the Cambodian capital with his first wife in the 1940s, and he's curious to return. BUT this is not Cambodia - it's the Kampuchea of the Khmer Rouge - and the two elderly gents are dismayed by what they find there.
  
  As always, I enjoyed the piece by piece solving of the murder puzzle, and I also really appreciated getting some insight to Phosy's character, with a lot more backstory provided this time around. Overall though, it felt like a bit of a chore to read. The Kampuchea chapters were pretty dark, naturally, and I found myself skimming a bit just to get through it. Hopefully #8 will be a bit lighter.
• 
  Marta

  This book is the darkest so far and looks back at the terrible, senseless 1978 genocide in Cambodia. Siri is in the middle of an investigation when he is sent to Cambodia on a diplomatic mission - and discovers the true terror of what’s happening there. The other side of the story is a murder investigation involving fencing and women who studied in the Eastern Block. There is a theme of being afraid of losing love, and learning appreciation for life, and for all its silliness, Laos.
  
  The parts where Dr Siri speaks from a Lao prison are very dark and harrowing, and some things were incomgruous, but the ending tied it together for me. Can’t say it was mindless entertainment than the other books, though. I hope the next one is lighter.
• 
  Lynn

  The Dr. Siri Paiboun series is one of my favorite series. I found it late so am now reading it from book 1. Dr Siri is a reluctant National Coroner of Laos. The previous Coroner swam across the river to leave Cambodia. The series takes place in the 70's. Dr. Siri is in his late 70's and was trained in France as a doctor. He used a French book to learn his coroner position. He fought for the Communist party with his wife before the take over of the government.
  
  Now on to this book. A serial murder is happening which is unusual. Three women have been murdered and it looks like it is linked to a person who knows fencing. Dr Siri and his workers/wife/friends are on the trail to find the murdered. Dr. Siri is sent to Cambodia during this time. The news hadn't reached the outside world as what atrocities and mass murders were occurring there. Dr. Siri lands in a Pol Pot prison and suffers greatly. It appears this will be the last Dr. Siri book.
  
  What makes these books so enjoyable is the gentle humor of Dr. Siri and his connections with a circle of companions. The times are hard but they survive with humor and a sense of family. This was the 7th book in the series. At this time, I am half way through the series so I have a lot more visiting to do with Dr. Siri and his circle of friends.
• 
  Ed

  This is the first title I've read in the Dr. Siri Paibourn mystery series, and it is an impressive outing. If you don't know much about Laos and the Khmer Rouge in neighboring Cambodia, Long Songs will give you a true but grim history lesson. Dr. Siri is the only coroner working in 1978 Laos when he takes on a serial killer who's done in three young ladies using fencing swords. Meanwhile he's also dispatched to Cambodia on a diplomatic mission where he runs into trouble. The wry sense of humor takes the edge off the violence and gritty settings. But I also liked the nifty murder mystery that fooled me. Definitely a series worth reading from book one and onward.
• 
  Karen

  I worked with Cambodian refugees in Atlanta in the 80's and found myself grateful for Cotterill's decision to take Siri into the spiritual and social devastation of Pol Pot's revolution. The Cambodian segment, unfortunately, is not well-woven into the mystery in Laos -- feels like parallel, disconnected stories. But both stories are so well written, yet again, that you cut Cotterill slack. Even with the subject matter, I still laughed out loud at several descriptions -- people in harsh situations find hope in humor.
• 
  Christine

  An interesting historical mystery. The scenes set in the streets of Burma were eye-opening.
• 
  Pamela Shropshire

  Another wonderful installment featuring the National Coroner of Laos, septuagenarian and newly-wed Dr. Siri Paiboun! This one features a nicely-plotted murder mystery in which 3 ; in addition, Civilai and Siri are “invited” to Phnom Penn along with a group of Chinese officials.
  
  Phosy and Dtui appear to be having marital difficulties; she confides to Daeng that she thinks he is having an affair. Daeng deputizes Siri to talk to Phosy about it. Siri chickens out but leaves a note for Phosy before he leaves for Phnom Penn; the note does the trick. Phosy and Dtui have a real conversation and confess they love each other.
  
  The spirit of a betel-nut-chewing old woman, that Siri thinks may be his mother, warns him not to go to Cambodia. Comrade Phat, Siri’s friend who is a Vietnamese adviser to the Ministry of Justice, also warns him against going. Of course, he goes anyway.
  
  Cotterill presents a chilling picture of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Siri escaped from the embassy, and for that crime, is accused of being a spy. He is imprisoned and tortured, while Civilai is sent back home. After weeks pass with no Siri, his friends give him up for dead.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Jennifer

  
  
  ...notes and fav bits...
  (4)
  "Heroes don't just 'pass" like flatulence in a strong breeze."
  ...
  (5)
  The Department of Hero Creation, the DHC, was housed in a small annex of the propaganda section of the Ministry of Information. Based loosely on a Vietnamese initiative already in place, the DHC was responsible for identifying role models, exaggerating their revolutionary qualities, and creating a fairy story around their lives. A week earlier, Dr. Siri and Comrade Civilai had received their invitations to attend this preliminary meeting. They'd heard of the DHC, of course, and seen evidence of its devious work. Every-one over seventy who'd done the Party the great service of staying alive was under consideration. If selected, school textbooks would mention their bravery. Histories would be written detailing their supernatural ability to surmount the insurmountable and carry the red flag to victory. Siri and Civilai could hardly pass up a chance to scuttle such a nefarious scheme.
  ...
  (23)
  -There was nothing he detested more than not being allowed to watch a film to its natural conclusion. In his mind there was no emergency so great as to deprive a man a cinematic climax.
  ...
  (201)
  - In the car back to their ostentatious hotel, The Sublime, the cadre had asked whether they might enjoy fourteen-year-old girls before they slept. Neither Siri nor Civilai could envisage what they might do with a fourteen-year-old other than a quick game of badminton.
  ...
  (250)
  He often talked to himself when he was overwhelmed with fear. He was it as a more dignified reaction than wetting himself.
  ...
  (252-253)
  -"But when he reached the lawn of the national library he stopped cold. His sadness for a beautiful defiled city turned to a bitter acid in his gut. Strewn across the grass were the soggy remains of thousands of books. Tens of thousands. Some old tomes had been set alight and had melded together. Illustrated pages flapped in the breeze. Precious and priceless volumes providing mulch for the next generations of plants. He crouched and paid reverence to the victims of ignorance and wondered whether anyone else in this city had been able to mourn the death of culture. It was then that he believed it all. If Big Brother could destroy literature and history, he could destroy lives."
  ...
  robot reference (pg 278):
  -"The Khmer Rouge weren't... they weren't human. You couldn't talk to them. They were robots." (I find this insulting on behalf of robots)
  ...
  (288)
  I had the option of crawling out on my hands and knees but that lacked...dignity. I wanted to make my escape attempt at least look like that of a biped rather than a tortoise.
• 
  Rob Kitchin

  Love Songs from a Shallow Grave is the seventh book in the Dr Siri series. Of the four that I’ve read it’s the strongest in terms of the plot, which is very well constructed and executed, blending a nice mystery puzzle with a strong sense of place and fascinating historical and social context. Whilst the tale still has some of the comic charm of the other books, both of the intersecting storylines are dark, especially Siri’s time in Kampuchea, which is quite harrowing but well handled. And although the story principally follows the investigation and the official trip, Cotterill advances the personal lives of the stable of main characters Siri, Madame Daeng, Nurse Dtui, Inspector Phosy, former Minister Civilai, and Mr Geung. Indeed, a real strength of the book is that the full gang are present for nearly the entire tale, each with their own interesting subplot. Overall, a clever, dark and enjoyable tale with a fascinating geographical and historical context.
• 
  Rog Harrison

  This is the third book I have read in this series about the adventures of an elderly coroner in Laos in the late 1970s. Although there is some humour this book is quite dark. There is the mystery of the three women killed with fencing swords but there is also the background story of the Khmer Rouge in Kampuchea. I was hoping for a fairly light hearted read but I found this book depressing. It's well written but not what I wanted.
• 
  Laurie

  Cotterill is a genius, what can I say? His unlikely hero is perfect, the setting in an alternate universe that is 1970s Laos, although this one has a dark venture into the horror that was Cambodia. Spooky and funny, a great read.
• 
  Chris

  The usual annoying back and forth between past and present with Dr. Siri as well as his vivid dreams and visions cavorting with the deceased.
  
  In the midst of a murder investigation which grows from one victim to three, all women, Siri is dispatched with Civilai to Phnom Penh on a diplomatic mission. At the time no one is aware of the killing fields. Siri experiences them first hand while solving an investigation via proxy.
  
  Entertaining with the usual twists. I’d missed reading this one when it came out in 2010. Now I’ve read them all. Wish there were more.
• 
  Jon

  I had almost forgotten this wonderful series, set in Laos around 1978. In this one, Dr. Siri, the elderly coroner for the whole country in its Communist infancy, investigates the killing of three young women in quick succession, all by fencing swords. But this odd mystery assumes secondary interest as Dr. Siri accompanies his friend in the diplomatic corps to Phnom Penh, where he is quickly imprisoned and witnesses first hand some of the horrors of Pol Pot's killing fields. His motto has always been, "No matter how terribly you're suffering, someone else has it worse." Now he has to add, "Unless you're a Cambodian." The solving of the mystery is almost superfluous after these horrors, but also after the quirky humor and love shown between all the main characters.
• 
  Louise

  Dr Siri and Phosy try to solve a series of murders that seem to have been perpetrated by a fencer; Dr Siri makes an ill-advised trip to Phnom Penh. This was a gripping read that I had trouble putting down.
• 
  Tim Hicks

  Look, you've got to #7 in the series. You knew it would come to this. Cotterill had to address Cambodia, and he has. Ugh. We owe it to him to stay with it and learn. But it's tied into a fairly clever mystery, and Siri is as irrepressible as ever.
  
  I do hope #8 is a little more cheerful.
• 
  Joe

  Darker than the previous books in the series, the first half of the book concerns Dr. Siri working to solve three connected murders. Just as the clues and evidence begin to make sense, he is called to go on a diplomatic trip to Cambodia where he gets too close to the brutal Khmer Rouge and their Killing Fields. Those two storylines don't quite mesh into a coherent narrative, although each is interesting in itself. Not the strongest book in the series, but still an enjoyable read.
• 
  Carolyn Rose

  Terrific twining of plots and a fictional look at the horror of those times through the eyes of Dr. Siri and his pals.
• 
  Heidi Burkhart

  Absolutely one of my favorite series. Couldn't resist a reread.
• 
  Kathy

  3.5
  
• 
  Dorothy

  I am a big fan of Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun series. Dr. Siri is really one of the most charming characters in all of the mystery genre and I always enjoy reading about his adventures and absorbing his gentle wisdom and view of the world. That being said, I was disappointed in this particular book. In trying to analyze just why, I came to the conclusion that it was because it tried to do too much.
  
  These stories take place in 1970s Laos, just after their revolution, as the new socialist government was trying to find its footing. Across the border in Cambodia, a much darker tale of transition was taking place. The Killing Fields were in full production. The population and the culture of the country were being systematically destroyed. In this book, Cotterill attempts to address that tragedy along with the more mundane events of Vientiane, if serial murders can ever be described as mundane. The contrast between Cambodia - Kampuchea - and the more benign society of Laos is stark. But the contrast is really too stark, too dissonant and disruptive and too difficult to take in.
  
  Cotterill's device for bringing in the Khmer Rouge story is that Dr. Siri is lured to Cambodia, along with his friend Civilai, on an all-expense-paid diplomatic mission. There, Siri's natural curiosity and abrasiveness lead him to stick his nose in where his hosts don't want it to be and he winds up afoul of the Khmer Rouge and chained and locked in a horrible prison where he is tortured and starved and where he expects to be killed.
  
  Before he went to Cambodia though, Siri had been involved in the investigation of a serial murder case in Vientiane. Three young women have been killed, skewered by epees and with a Z carved into their thighs. There seems to be no logical connection between the three murders, and Siri and his usual posse struggle to find the solution to the puzzle. Before he is able to reach a conclusion, the trip to Cambodia interferes. The story proceeds on two tracks, in Vientiane and in Cambodia.
  
  We know that Dr. Siri will survive his horrible experience, because the series continues, but how he does so is more than a little incredible. After all, the 74-year-old national coroner of Laos is hardly James Bond, but his escape from Cambodia seems all too Bond-like.
  
  Moreover, we know that he will solve the serial murder case. In this instance, the list of questions that he leaves for policeman Phosy before going to Cambodia lead to the surprising solution. But it's all just a bit too much, a bit too convenient.
  
  My disappointment with this book is certainly not enough to put me off the series and I'll be looking forward to reading the next entry. I just hope it is a bit more narrowly focused.
• 
  Shaitanah

  Without a doubt, one of the hardest books I've ever read. I love this series and I've always loved the combination of humour and serious stuff in it, but this instalment is so overwhelmingly depressing and terrifying that I don't really know how to react to it. Yes, it's written very powerfully, but I kind of wish I hadn't read it because it gave me nightmares.
• 
  Julia Christiansen

  Loved the series several years ago and recently rediscovered on Audible. Great stories and performance. The characters, story, and cultural details about Laos are endlessly entertaining.
  In Love Songs from a Shallow Grave, focus on some of the darker history from the era of the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge and the Pathet Lao overwhelms what one reviewer described as "magical mysteries." If you love the series for the historical background, you may be fine with it. For me, it detracts from the delight I take in the series' clever stories, characters and magic. I was sorry I reread this one.
• 
  Spuddie

  #7 Dr. Siri Paiboun mystery set in 1970's Laos. Dr. Siri, the national coroner, has a serial killer on his hands--a killer who has brutally murdered three young women with a fencing epee, something that's not exactly lying around on every corner in Laos. Most people don't even have a clue what it is. So tracking this killer should be simple, right?
  
  Tell that to Siri's policeman friend Phosy, who thinks he has it all figured out until he reads a note with some very pointed questions from Siri--who has gone off on an all-expense-paid political junket to Cambodia with his friend Civilai and ends up as guests of the Khmer Rouge--who are not quite the benign entity they were believed to be before their reign of terror started. Siri ends up separated from Civilai, accused of being a spy and imprisoned and comes close to meeting his ghostly friends up close and personal.
  
  Another wonderful story that reads much too quickly. These characters have truly become friends over the course of the series and I've learned a lot about this time and place that I don't think any amount of factual lecturing could impart. I was very relieved to see there is already a next in series due for release next year.