I Shot the Buddha

Laos, 1979: Retired coroner Siri Paiboun and his wife, Madame Daeng, have never been able to turn away a misfit. As a result, they share their small Vientiane house with an assortment of homeless people, mendicants, and oddballs. One of these oddballs is Noo, a Buddhist monk, who rides out on his bicycle one day and never comes back, leaving only a cryptic note in the refrigerator.
 
Realizing that he needs rescuing, Siri and Daeng sneak illegally across the Mekhong River to Thailand, trying to track their missing monk-friend down and figure out who has kidnapped him. Their adventure runs them afoul of Lao secret service officers, famous spiritualists, charismatic abbots, and even a man who might be the reincarnation of the Buddha himself. Buddhism is a powerful influence on both morals and politics in Southeast Asia—to get their friend back, Siri and Daeng will have to figure out who is cloaking their terrible misdeeds in religiosity.

Colin Cotterill is the author of ten 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, and Six and a Half Deadly Sins. His fiction has won a Dilys Award and a CWA Dagger in the Library. He lives in Chumphon, Thailand, with his wife and six deranged dogs.