Killed at the Whim of a Hat – Colin Cotterill

Jimm Juree’s nascent career as ace crime reporter on the Chiang Mai Mail is ended by her mother’s sudden decision to sell the family home and move from the urban north to the rural south of Thailand. There each of the family find their own way to cope as new, mainly unenthusiastic, owners of the Gulf Bay Lovely Resort and Restaurant.

Her mother sits in the shop all day; brother Arny mainly works out on the beach; Ganddad Jah sits and watches out for passing cars; and Jimm guts fish and wonders if sister Sissi (who used to be brother Somkiet) got it right in refusing to leave Chiang Mai.

Then, in a part of the country where nothing ever happens, things begin to happen; criminal things much to Jimm’s delight. She’s soon back on the beat, investigating two skeletons found in a buried camper van, an unlikely murder in a Buddhist temple, the death of a dog and, closer to home, the truth about her absent father.

The first person narration works well and Cotterill’s writing as a thirty-something feisty Thai woman of independent outlook passes muster. The self-depreciating humour and a nice line in metaphor make the reading light and enjoyable. The barbs at officialdom, politics and corruption have a tone of resignation rather than indignation.

There is one good cop locally, and Granddad Jah stirs himself to help, so Jimm is not working alone. And as she makes progress in at least some of her enquiries she finds the country bumpkins don’t all fit in with her preconceptions. Maybe life down south would suit after all if she gave it a chance.

At nearly 400 pages the jaunty style of prose begins to wear thin towards the end and the technical denouement has much less charm than the excellent opening, but in the main an easy and passable read.