Slash and Burn (Dr. Siri Mysteries Book 8)

I had read of the burning of fields in Laos, particularly the northern hills, and how the smoke created such a miasma that certain months one should avoid because of the pall. Cotterill's artistry in this novel was to combine this atmosphere with the bombing not too many years earlier by Americans of these hills, the dropping of napalm and other ordinance which still creates a deadly milieu for innocent Laotians, and the greed of Americans to profit from wartime confusion and corruption at the expense of the locals. Though some good shines through from a few Americans involved and the author always finds the humorous side of whatever dilemma Siri confronts, the contrasts in values, priorities, and approaches dominates the book, challenging Siri, Daeng and Civilai, along with Dtui and Geung and Phosy to work hard to bring the tale to a successful conclusion with minimal human casualties, though the environment has been contaminated in some areas with small chance of resolution.

I love this series for its colorful, and sometime eccentric characters, cultural interest, and historical facts, not to mention the wry tongue-in-cheek humor. The wonderfully descriptive language sets my imagination going also. Here is a sample of my favorite phrases: "long canine yawn," "blurry cheeseball of a sun," "pocket of gloom closing in on them," and "sudden giggly sound of water tickling the rocks."