Thirty-Three Teeth
First edition book cover
AuthorColin Cotterill
PublisherSoho Crime
Publication date
January 1, 2005
AwardDilys Award (2006)
ISBN9781569473887
Preceded byThe Coroner's Lunch 
Followed byDisco For The Departed 

Thirty-Three Teeth is a crime novel by British author Colin Cotterill and published in 2005 by Soho Press. It won the 2006 Dilys Award.

Plot summary

When the Malay Black bear vanishes from its cage in the zoo garden of Vientiane's Lan Xang Hotel very few people are surprised to see mauled bodies turning up in the morgue. Very few that is, apart from Dr. Siri Paiboun the only coroner in the Lao People's Republic. Seventy-two-year-old Siri and his team are convinced something just doesn't add up.

In Luang Prabang, meanwhile, plans are afoot to finally rid the country of its royal heritage. The new socialist government is about to send the royal family to a re-education camp and exorcise the spirits of the old kings. Siri is sent to the historic capital to solve two mysteries: what killed a man found on a crumpled bicycle, and what caused the deaths of two bodies charred beyond recognition and missing their feet? What is so important that a military helicopter should be provided to whisk him north at a moment's notice?

Once there, Siri calls on his spiritual connections to help solve these cases. But he reawakens the souls of the phibob, the malevolent ghosts still seeking revenge on the doctor for past misdeeds. He enlists the help of the royal shaman and finally learns the true intentions of the phibob and of his own distinguished dynasty. Before he can return to his work he has to survive the phibob attempt on his life, unmask the betrayer of the king and argue his own defense against charges of treachery.

With Siri out of town, it is left to Dtui his nursing assistant to investigate the killings in Vientiane. She has her first unpleasant encounter with a Russian circus trainer, gets access to secret Party files, and soon becomes the only person in Laos arguing against the death warrant on the old Malay bear. But whilst searching for who or whatever it is murdering women and draining them of their blood, Dtui disappears.

With the moon full, and three victims already on the morgue slab, Dr. Siri has four hours to find his assistant before she becomes the fourth.

Reception

In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called this second novel in the series "as entertaining as" the first and noted that "clever chapter titles [...] put tongue even further in cheek".[1]

Publishers Weekly wrote, "Paiboun's droll wit and Cotterill's engaging plot twists keep things energetic; the rather grisly murders are offset by comedy [...] The elegant, elderly Paiboun seems an unlikely vehicle to carry a series [...], but he does so with charm and aplomb.[2]

Booklist also reviewed the novel.[3]

Awards

Thirty-Three Teeth won the 2006 Dilys Award presented by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.[4][5]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Thirty-Three Teeth". Kirkus Reviews. 15 June 2005. Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill". Publishers Weekly. 6 June 2005. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Thirty-three Teeth". Booklist. 1 May 2005. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "The Dilys Award". Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  5. ↑ "Colin Cotterill". Stop, You're Killing Me!. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
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