The Second Biggest Nothing

"A death threat to Dr. Siri and all his friends sends the ex-coroner down memory lane in the 14th installment of Cotterill's quirky, critically acclaimed series set in 1970s Laos. Vientiane, 1980: Laos is celebrating its fifth anniversary of communist rule, and Dr. Siri and his crew couldn't be less thrilled. But really, things could be a lot worse. Madame Daeng's noodle shop is thriving, Tukta and Geung are on their honeymoon, and Siri and Civilai are still plotting their directorial debut. But before things get too comfortable, Dr. Siri finds something odd tied with pink ribbon to his dog, Ugly's, tail: a mysterious note written in English. Upon finding someone to translate the note, Dr. Siri learns it is a death threat--and not just to him, but to everyone he holds dear. And whoever wrote the note claims the job will be executed in two weeks. Thus, at the urging of his motley crew of faithful friends, Dr. Siri contemplates who would hold such a strong grudge as to wish him dead, launching him into hair-bending scenes from his past, including the first time Siri met his lifelong pal Civilai in Paris in the early '30s, a particularly disruptive episode at an art museum in Saigon in 1956, and a prisoner of war negotiation in Hanoi at the height of the Vietnam War in the '70s. There will be grave consequences in the present if Dr. Siri can't put together the clues in the past"--