Mystery.(The Mortician's Daughter)(Disco for the Departed)(When the Devil Holds the Candle)(Book review)

Police procedurals, a staple of American and British crime fiction, are now crossing national borders. Karin Fossum details Norwegian police work, while Alicia Gimenez-Bartlett profiles investigators in Barcelona. And Colin Cotterill follows the investigations of national coroner Siri Paiboun in war-torn Laos.

Bloom, Elizabeth. The Mortician's Daughter. Mysterious. Aug. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 0-89296-786-2. $24.95. M

Returning to the small Massachusetts mill town she left ten years earlier seems like a good idea to suspended New York City cop Ginny Lavoie. But what started as a request from her best friend to find the murderer of her 19-year-old son quickly becomes a complex investigation involving a number of secrets hidden for 15 years. Ginny peels back layers of guilt, remorse, and past crimes while dodging attempts on her life. Bloom (See Isabel Run) is a pseudonym for Beth Saulnier, the author of four crime novels featuring Alex Bernier. It does not matter what name she uses, as her books are always of the highest quality. She lives in Ithaca, NY. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 4/1/06.]

* Cotterill, Colin. Disco for the Departed. Soho, dist. by Consortium. Aug. 2006. c.247p. ISBN 1-56947-428-1. $23. M

It is 1977, and Dr. Siri Paiboun, Laos's national coroner (The Coroner's Lunch), and his nurse, Dtui, are sent to the mountains of the Hiraphan Province to deal with a corpse encased in cement. Unfortunately, the body is found on the property of the new president, who is planning a huge national celebration there in just days. Once again, Cotterill demonstrates his extensive knowledge of Laotian history and his ability to create memorable characters. Readers who enjoy Eliot Pattison's Asian thrillers (Bone Mountain) will find that Cotterill shares the same sardonic view of Asian communism mixed with a touch of mysticism (the dead speak to Siri), a quality that sets the work of both authors apart from most mystery fare. Cotterill lives in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 4/1/06.]

* Fossum, Karin. When the Devil Holds the Candle: An Inspector Sejer Mystery. …