I shot the Buddha

1
Goodnight, Ladies
 
It was midnight to the second with a full moon overhead when three women were being killed in three separate locations. Had this been the script of a film such a twist of fate would have been the type of cinematic plot device that annoyed Comrades Siri and Civilai immensely. In their book, coincidences came in a close third behind convenient amnesia and the sudden appearance of an identical twin. But this was real life, so there was no argument to be had.
 
 
The first woman died. She was elderly, was in bad health, and was an alcoholic. But it wasn t angina or alcohol that killed her. It was a sledgehammer. For much of her life she d scratched a living repairing clothing on an old French sewing machine. When her hands weren t shaking she didn t do such a bad job of it, and hers was the only functioning sewing machine for a hundred kilometers. There was a time when she d divide her income: half for food, half for rice whisky. But she figured rice whisky was rice, right? What was the point of paying twice for rice? She had papayas and bananas growing naturally around her hut, so, although she spent much of her day in the latrine, she decided she got enough nutrition for someone who wasn t expecting to grow. From then on, every kip she made taking up or taking down the hems of phasin skirts was spent on drink.
     And that night, that cloudless full moon night, she lay pickled on the bamboo bench her father had made with his own hands and she fancied she could see Hanuman s face in the moon. And then a shadow fell across it and for a second she saw the only love of her life, then a smile, then a sledgehammer.
 
 
A second woman died. She had bathed from a bucket of rainwater behind her hut and washed her hair with a sachet of the latest Sunsilk shampoo, a free sample from the company. She was still wearing her damp sarong and deciding whether to keep it on and say,

Colin Cotterill is the author of eleven other books in the Dr. Siri Paiboun series: The Coroner’s Lunch, Thirty-Three Teeth, Disco for the Departed, Anarchy and Old Dogs, Curse of the Pogo Stick, The Merry Misogynist, Love Songs from a Shallow Grave, Slash and Burn, The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die, Six and a Half Deadly Sins, and The Rat-Catchers’ Olympics. His fiction has won a Dilys Award and a CWA Dagger in the Library. He lives in Chumphon, Thailand, with his wife and five deranged dogs.

Praise for I Shot the Buddha

A BookPage Best Mystery of 2016

"Dazzling."
Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review 

Terrifically entertaining.
Adam Woog, The Seattle Times

"[Siri] is the most wonderfully human of heroes."
The Christian Science Monitor

"Filled with magic and quirkiness... A madcap and international caper."
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

"Cotterill's twisty mystery plot will entertain readers while his cast of eccentric characters charms."
Shelf-Awareness

"Highly unusual and immensely appealing."
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

Stunning . . . This series offers unfailingly satisfying reading, especially so for the glimpses we get into the still-revolutionary characters of Siri and Madame Daeng, both bursting with caustic wit and adventurous spirit.
Booklist, Starred Review

Cotterill excels in the portrayal of potentially serious and momentous topics with lighthearted humor, imbuing his characters with grace and empathy in the midst of a particularly difficult chapter of Southeast Asia's history.
BookPage, Top Pick in Mystery

"Highly entertaining."
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Praise for Six and a Half Deadly Sins

"Dr. Siri and his misfit friends have relied on caustic humor to stay sane . . . The question is: Can his cynical sense of humor get him out of this jam?"
The New York Times Book Review

"A gladdening complement to many mystery-reader's table . . . If you are unfamiliar with Paiboun works, it is time to crawl out of whatever cave you have been living in. This is for you."
The Christian Science Monitor

"Always delightful . . . the doctor and his profoundly eccentric friends, wife and (now former) colleagues retain their sardonic senses of humor in a vexing and sometimes scary time."
The Seattle Times

"A rollicking installment . . . Guaranteed to delight fans and new readers alike."
BookPage, Top Pick