The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill is a 2004 murder mystery about a 72-year-old doctor, Dr. Siri Paiboun, who is appointed state coroner of Laos in 1976. The monarchy has just fallen and the communists have taken over. Most of the educated class has fled, but Dr. Siri remains. He has no training or supplies for the job, but his sense of humor helps him through his frustrating days.

Dr. Siri's first murder case is the poisoning death of a party official's wife at a banquet. There are no clues and soon, no body either. There's a lot of pressure to sign it off as an accident.