Saturday, November 10 at 11:30am

Got a taste for crime and a yen for travel? Like being transported by both crafty plots and exotic locales? Then join our group of armchair detectives for a killer discussion of murder and mayhem that spans the globe.

Housing Works Bookstore is partnering with one of Manhattan’s premiere independent publishers, Soho Press – and their imprint Soho Crime – to bring you some of the finest in mystery and suspense writing from around the world! Each month, The International Crime Book Group will discuss a novel from Soho Crime’s extensive catalog of thrillers, each set in a different region. Join us in November as we travel to Laos with The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill.

The ICBG meets on the second Saturday of every month in the bookstore’s café and is hosted by Housing Works Bookstore’s resident mystery buff Merril Speck and (schedule permitting) Soho Press Senior Editor Juliet Grames. They will provide discussion questions and lead the meeting. The group is open to all who are interested!   

More on The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill:  Laos, 1975. Dr. Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old Paris-trained doctor, is appointed national coroner by the Communist party. Although he has no training for the job, there is no one else; the rest of the educated class has fled. So begins his new life. He’s thrust into action on three peculiar cases: bodies popping up here and there and mysteries all over the place! With little experience and no equipment, he has to rely on his two odd morgue colleagues and an unexplained spirit world connection for help. He is expected to come up with the answers the party wants. But crafty and charming Dr. Siri is immune to bureaucratic pressure. At his age, he reasons, what can they do to him? And he knows he cannot fail the dead who come into his care without risk of incurring their boundless displeasure. Eternity could be a long time to have the spirits mad at you.
Our thanks to Soho Press for generously donating copies of The Coroner’s Lunch. It will be available in the bookstore at half price.

For questions about The International Crime Book Club, please e-mail Merril Speck at m.speck@housingworks.org.

Learn more about Soho Crime.