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Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach: A Jimm Juree Mystery    by Colin Cotterill Amazon.com order for
Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach
by Colin Cotterill
Order:  USA  Can
Minotaur, 2013 (2012)
Hardcover, Softcover
* * *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

Having recently returned from a holiday in Indochina (including Thailand and Burma) I was delighted to find Colin Cotterill's Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach in my reading pile. The series stars ambitious Thai journalist Jimm Juree and her exceedingly eccentric family in Southern Thailand, where Jimm regularly stumbles upon body parts and other puzzles.

The title of this new episode, Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach, opens the mystery as Jimm announces this fact to her ex-policeman grandfather (he was actually a traffic cop as he was too honest for the regular job). When local police don't take the find seriously and members of the Southern Rescue Mission Foundation attempt intimidation, Jimm starts digging.

Her investigative instincts are also aroused by a mother-daughter pair of resort guests. They're clearly on the run, but from what? Jimm's 'nose sensed a story. A big one.' She learns with the help of her brother Sissi that the daughter won a scholarship to Georgetown, but vanished after receiving her diploma. Why?

As these cases develop, their shop is bombed, the resort flooded, Jimm mistakenly takes a drug dubbed 'Viagra for women', and Sissi leaves home for the first time in years. Jimm learns of many unexplained disappearances from the large community of Burmese workers in the country, half of them illegal. She starts a crusade on their behalf and its live Internet feed goes viral.

As always Jimm sorts out both mysteries and it's a hoot watching her antics to get it done. If you enjoy hilarious cozies in exotic settings, anything by Colin Cotterill is well worth your time - I also recommend his mystery series starring septuagenarian Dr. Siri Paiboun (the country's sole coroner) in Laos.

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