The Axe Factor

Since Jimm Juree moved, under duress, with her family to a rural village on the coast of Southern Thailand, she misses the bright lights of Chiang Mai. Most of all, she's missed her career as a journalist, which was just getting started. In Chiang Mai, she was covering substantial stories and major crimes. But here in Maprao, Jimm has to scrape assignments from the local online journal, the Chumphon Gazette-and be happy about it when she gets one. This time they are sending her out to interview a local farang (European) writer, a man in his late fifties, originally from England, who writes award-winning crime novels, one Conrad Coralbank.

At the same time, several local women have left town without a word to anyone, leaving their possessions behind. These include the local doctor, Dr. Sumlak, who never returned from a conference, and the Thai wife of that farang writer, the aforementioned Conrad Coralbank. All of which looks a little suspicious, especially to Jimm's grandfather, an ex-cop, who notices Coralbank's interest in Jimm with a very jaundiced eye. With a major storm headed their way and a potential serial killer on the loose, it looks like Jimm Juree, her eccentric family, and the whole town of Maprao is in for some major changes.

“The fast-paced plot finishes with a particularly tense climax . . . Cotterill masterfully blends real-world issues . . . and his trademark humor - Booklist”

Colin Cotterill was born and raised in London. He has taught in Australia, the USA and Japan. After working with an NGO and child protection services in Southeast Asia, Colin settled in Thailand, where he now writes full time. He has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and has won the CWA Dagger in the Library.

Intrepid crime reporter Jimm Juree and her eccentric family are managing their run-down beach resort on the Gulf of Thailand, still battered by storms and disaster - usually of their own making. But a crime reporter needs a crime, and Jimm's latest case is that of the missing Dr Somluk, who disappeared following a run-in with the marketers of infant formula. Meanwhile, Jimm is distracted by a new love in her life, but finds herself pursued by another man, with a markedly different - and violent - agenda in mind. All this, and the monsoons are coming. The Axe Factor shows Colin Cotterill in peak form, dishing blood, brine and bedlam aplenty. Crime fiction has never been funnier.

Since Jimm Juree moved, under duress, with her family to a rural village on the coast of Southern Thailand, she misses the bright lights of Chiang Mai. Most of all, she's missed her career as a journalist, which was just getting started. In Chiang Mai, she was covering substantial stories and major crimes. But here in Maprao, Jimm has to scrape assignments from the local online journal, the Chumphon Gazette-and be happy about it when she gets one. This time they are sending her out to interview a local farang (European) writer, a man in his late fifties, originally from England, who writes award-winning crime novels, one Conrad Coralbank. At the same time, several local women have left town without a word to anyone, leaving their possessions behind. These include the local doctor, Dr. Sumlak, who never returned from a conference, and the Thai wife of that farang writer, the aforementioned Conrad Coralbank. All of which looks a little suspicious, especially to Jimm's grandfather, an ex-cop, who notices Coralbank's interest in Jimm with a very jaundiced eye. With a major storm headed their way and a potential serial killer on the loose, it looks like Jimm Juree, her eccentric family, and the whole town of Maprao is in for some major changes.

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