Against all his expectations, Dr Siri Paiboun has rather enjoyed his first five months in office. Now, as hot-season nights close in, Siri is spirited away from Laos' steamy capital on a Matter of National Security. Arriving in Luang Prabang, he's a busy man, examining carbonized corpses, dining with the deposed king, attending a shamans' conference and being rescued by the ghost of an elephant. Not that Siri's complaining ...Luang Prabang is in mountains and a good fifteen degrees cooler. Meanwhile, back at Vientiane headquarters, it's hot. Bloody hot - savaged bodies are piling up in Siri's absence. Is it the missing black bear from the circus, or could it be a weretiger? Siri's trusty assistant Nurse Dtui goes snooping but, unlike her boss, the spirits aren't looking out for her...And just what creature, if any, has thirty-three teeth?

"'The story is good, the characters interesting, the hero delightful and the setting fascinating: a find' Literary Review." - Literary Review

"'An embarrassment of riches: Holmesian sleuthing, political satire, and droll comic study of a prickly late bloomer' Kirkus (starred review)." - Kirkus

"'A wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery' New York Times Book Review." - New York Times