Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach: A Jimm Juree Mystery (original 2012; edition 2012)

I tried... really I did, but I just couldn't ever get into this book. I was listening to the audiobook version, and the narrator was passable, but not great.
The story was certainly heartwarming, but I found it generally boring. I felt the characters were warm, but not particularly interesting. I finished the book with a resounding "blah".
I am certain that fans of cozy mysteries will find this book much more enjoyable than myself. But it really didn't work for me. ( )

Colin Cotterill is a master at teaching his readers a little about his stomping grounds in SE Asia while giving us interesting characters and a mystery or two to boot.

In this series, Jimm Juree, a ex-crime writer, is marooned in a small, rundown beach resort in Thailand with her mother, her body-building brother, and her grandfather, an ex-traffic police officer. It is monsoon season with heavy rains and on-shore winds that blow garbage up on their beach. While walking their dogs one morning, Jimm comes upon a head. Sensing she may have been gifted with a story worthy of being published, she contacts the police and is then confronted with the extremely odd system of how bodies are handled in Thailand, graft is involved.

The lesson we are taught, along with Jimm, is the problem of Burmese immigrants who, like our own Mexicans, take the worst jobs for the worst pay, but unlike our Mexicans, receive no education for their children or health care. Frequently they are abducted off the street and taken to large fishing vessels, worked to death, and discarded like a worn pair of shoes, to be washed up on the beach. Jimm is irate by this shameful practice and spearheads an attack.

I recommend this book to fans of mysteries that take place in foreign settings with a wonderful cast of characters. ( )

Reviewed only for Early Reviewers....even more boring, plastic, and disjointed than the first. The same cast of characters that are supposed to be quirky, funny, and I think they're meant to be entertaining. They're not. They're insipid, stupid, and not worth the time to read this one.

I got the audio version for review...It was difficult to follow, the narrator's voice was so sing-song, it was like listening to a Saturday morning cartoon. Too many characters, too little plot, and frankly I think that the country of Thailand deserves a much more robust and positive portrayal than this one. ( )

Grandad, There’s a Head on the Beach is the second title in Colin Cotterill’s new Thailand mystery series starring crime reporter Jimm Juree. In Grandad Jimm has left Bangkok and is helping her mother, grandfather and brother run a rundown resort on the Thai coast when she finds a severed human head washed up on the beach nearby. Jimm cannot accept the cursory explanations of the local police and begins using her contacts to investigate this bizarre event.

The plot of Grandad is not so much a mystery as a vehicle for painting a colorful picture of modern Thailand with its culture clash of royal, peasant, native and immigrant populations residing in bustling cities and backwater villages. The narrative also focuses on the native prejudice against the illegal Burmese immigrants and the abuse they are forced to endure. The profusion of odd characters, enhanced by Jimm’s observations, include (but are certainly not limited to) a gay police lieutenant, a mother-daughter duo traveling incognito, a mangy dog, and a sister?? who can hack just about any computer system to get information for Jimm’s investigation. Adding to Jimm’s often facetious commentary are the corrupted verses from popular songs of the 60s and 70s that head each chapter. Eventually this strange tale culminates in a hysterically funny showdown on the high seas between a determined and fearless Jimm with her assorted “deputies” and a crew of organized kidnappers that is well worth the price of the sometimes plodding narrative. Fans of Carl Hiasson will feel right at home in this crazy, hilarious romp set on the coast of the country formerly known as Siam.

The narrator of the audio version, Kim Mai Guest, has an Asian accent that is almost too pleasant; It’s easy to become lulled by her voice and lose focus on the narrative. Also, the large array of characters means listeners should to pay close attention to names and relationships at the start to avoid confusion later. ( )

Imagine Stephanie Plum’s dysfunctional family transplanted to Thailand and you get some idea of the cast of characters inhabiting this comic mystery. Unfortunately, for me the humor fell a bit flat and the mystery was rather elementary. The narrator/protagonist, investigative reporter Jimm Jurree is involved in two unconnected plot lines, one featuring women in hiding and the other concerning the Burmese slave trade. Most of the investigation actually is done by Jimm’s transsexual brother and her friend, a gay policeman. Jimm puts the pieces together, spearheads the rescue of a boatload of Burmese slaves, and gives the hiding women a way out of their predicament.

The most engaging features of the audio book were the excellent reading by Kim Mai Guest and the glimpse into Thai culture and a real human rights issue that author Cotterill provides. ( )