Laos, 1976. The monarchy has been deposed, the Communist Pathet Lao have taken over. Most of the educated class has fled, but Dr Siri Paiboun, a Paris-trained doctor remains. And so this 72-year-old physician is appointed state coroner, despite having no training, equipment, experience or even inclination for the job. But the job's not that bad and Siri quickly settles into a routine of studying outdated medical texts, scrounging scarce supplies, and circumnavigating bureaucratic red tape to arrive at justice. The fact that the recently departed are prone to pay Siri the odd, unwanted nocturnal visit turns out to be an added bonus in his new line of work.
But when the wife of a party leader turns up dead and the bodies of tortured Vietnamese soldiers start bobbing to the surface of a Laotian lake, all eyes turn to Siri. Faced with official cover-ups and an emerging international crisis, the doctor enlists old friends, village shamans, forest spirits, dream visits from the dead - and even the occasional bit of medical deduction - to solve the crimes.

'Quirky, exotic and winning.' Publishers' Weekly
'Cotteriff is one of the best things to happen to crime fiction in years.' Sydney Morning Herald
'Delightful. A wry, eccentric addition to the genre.' Booklist

Dr Siri is sent to Luang Prabang, the old royalist capital, to investigate two charred and bullet-ridden bodies but soon finds himself involved in a plot to rid the country of its King and all the royal spirits. He finds himself an attendee at a conference of shamans called by the Communist government to give the spirits an ultimatum: obey party orders or get out. But the spirits aren't going to give up without a fight... and before it's all over Siri will face death and arrest (in that order).
Meanwhile, his able assistant Nurse Dtui is left to follow the gory trail of an old, long-abused and now escaped bear - an animal she is convinced is being framed...
This energetic sequel to The Coroner's Lunch will appeal to all who like their mysteries literate, witty and exotic.

Vince Conte was a New York cop until he punched the senior officer having an affair with his wife. Forced to resign, he's bored by his work for a private security firm. Tony Murano was a tennis player dating the daughter of royalty. Then his career faltered and his girlfriend got pregnant. Now Murano is under his father-in-law's thumb, unable to find the investors he needs to become a businessman in his own right. When tabloids all over Europe publish pictures of his poolside tryst with an anonymous woman on the day his wife gave birth to the royal heir, Murano's father-in-law is all too glad to dismiss him. His young wife is heartbroken, though, and her mother decides to investigate. Who arranged the photos? What was the true motive? Assigned to the job, Conte finds himself a target as he follows a trail of photographs and money that takes him to Italy, Amsterdam, Monaco, and back.

'Terrific and Extraordinary'. New York Times
'Probably only half a dozen suspense writers can be depended upon to deliver high voltage shocks, vivid, sympathetic characters, and compelling narratives each time they publish. Thomas Perry is one of them. Nightlife is original and highly entertaining. 1 can't imagine any reader finishing this and thinking they didn't get their money's worth. And it's scary! I say that with deep admiration. 'Stephen King
'The master of nail-biting suspense.' Los Angeles Times

When the cousin of Los Angeles underworld figure Hugo Poole is found shot dead in his Portland, Oregon, home, police find nothing at the crime scene except several strands of long blonde hair hinting that a second victim may have been involved.
Homicide detective Catherine Hobbes is determined to solve the case and locate the missing blonde, but her feelings, and the investigation, are complicated when Hugo hires a private investigator to perform a parallel investigation. As the P.I. and Catherine form an uneasy alliance, the murder count rises - and both realize that the missing blonde is not the victim at all...
As Catherine follows the evidence, she finds herself in a deadly contest with an unpredictable adversary capable of changing her appearance anc identity at will. Catherine must use everything she knows, as a homicide detective and as a woman, to stop a murderer who kills on impulse and with ease, and who becomes more efficient and elusive with each crime.

In a world of warped values, an honest crook like Parker is a true treasure.' New York Times Book Review
'This stellar series just gets better and better.' Publisher's Weekly

Parker and his associates target a corrupt televangelist whose travelling crusade is playing the stadium of a small midwestern city. With the help of an inside man, the job's a cinch, and it goes off without a hitch, netting the team over $400,000 in small, unmarked bills. But there's little honour among thieves and as soon as they make their getaway, the betrayals begin.
The plot thickens when some hapless local crooks decide to elbow in on the score. Throw in the circling police, the televangelist's own ex-military security chief and a libidinous and buxom choir-leader, and you've got a hard-boiled stew that would put Elmore Leonard to shame.

In a Midwestern city, Parker calmly tosses a firebomb through a plate-glass window, while some newfound partners in crime take down a nearby bank. Making their getaway in the confusion, the bank robbers tell him two things: that his heist was only seed money for a much gaudier one, and that Parker has to loan them his share of the take. They should have given him his cut, or killed him. Because now Parker is rampaging through the American South, taking on a new identity as he goes, planning his own assault on his former partners' next target, a spectacular jewellery heist in Palm Beach. But Parker didn't count on one unfortunate detail. A very bad and very stupid man knows his true identity, and wants him dead. Another brilliant noir crime novel in the legendary Parker series.

"Ask the Parrot" is a masterpiece of lean writing and tight plotting, rough humour and deft characterization, the latest in Richard Stark's "Parker" series which has won him a wide following across the world of crime fiction addicts.
Parker is on the run after a country town bank robbery goes wrong. There are road blocks in the lanes, and search parties with sniffer dogs are out in the woods. Separated from his associates, Parker is confronted by a local citizen with a shotgun. But this citizen is not out to arrest him: he wants Parker to help him carry out a robbery of his own.
So Parker joins the posse looking for himself and enters into a queasy partnership with an embittered recluse intent on robbing the racetrack where he was once employed.