Chris Cotterill’s Thirty-Three Teeth fits the idea of summer reading to the tee. It’s a fun mystery with supernatural elements whose main character is the national coroner of Laos, Dr. Siri Paiboun. There’s the usual cast of supporting characters, the quirky nurse, the police officer who isn’t an idiot, and a colourful amount of spirits, all making themselves integral to the procession of the plot.
Thirty-Three Teeth kind of feels like Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. It has the same kind of light tone, even though there are actual murders in Cotterill’s novel. Unlike a typical mystery, this book is more character driven than pure plot, and I kind of like that. Plus, it’s not often you have a septuagenarian main character, which is interesting too.
I got a bit confused in terms of the actual mystery because there were several strains happening all at the same time, and I was reading the book mainly before bed, so I was already tired, but on the whole I enjoyed it.
And that’s number 2 from my summer reading list! I’m still way, way behind my goal of 30 books by August 30th though.
I can’t believe you’re on book 46!