Forced to relocate to rural Thailand with her eccentric family, crime reporter Jimm Juree fears that her career is over until the bodies of two hippies are discovered in a local farmer's field and a Buddhist abbot is murdered, a case that implicates a monk and a nun.

Jimm Juree is a feisty and persistent reporter who bends the rules to get information. Luckily she befriends a police detective who is also willing to bend the rules to help her. Her family, who she lives with, is quirky, amusing and unpredictable. Half of the story focused on the family’s activities and half focused on the murder investigation. It was an entertaining combination. ( )

This one was a lot of fun. If you're looking for a serious psychological thriller look elsewhere. Though there are two or three mysteries here the real interest to me was the setting and the cast of wacky characters thrown together by genetics and geography.

The snarky style, while mostly entertaining, sometimes went a bit overboard. For example, "I sat and watched the sea for a while. It was silver and languid like a lake of snot." (p.222) Compare Peter Heller in The River: "The water whispered along the hull, and it had a silver sheen that reminded Wynn of rayon."

First time for this author for me, and there will be more. ( )

Liked the beginning few pages. When our narrator whips in to explain that she can't keep up that writing style I was jarred and never got caught up again. The romance and the finding oneself in the slower paced countryside bits were my favorite. Not taken with this series, sticking with Dr. Siri. ( )

Lots of unexpected fun – interesting locale, fun likeable characters – overall cute, but it a totally enjoyable way. ( )

I received this book on GoodReads.

I enjoyed this new series by Colin Cotterill. It took me quite awhile to get interested in the story, but once it caught my interest I finished it very quickly. The humor is subtle and the characters very quirky. Sometimes I felt like the mystery (s), that were the base of the plot, were really secondary to the author's attempt to flesh out these new characters. That was alright with me because it makes me want to read the next book in the series to see what this group is up to next!

I enjoyed and laughed out loud at the George W. Bush quotes at the head of every chapter. And the clever way the author used one of his quotes to name this novel.

I give this 3.5 stars!! ( )