What is Colin Cotterill reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Colin Cotterill, author of Killed at the Whim of a Hat.

His entry begins:

I was one of those kids who believed there were much more interesting things to do in his school years than study. Subsequently, 1963 to 1970 was an intellectual void in my life. When I should have been amassing that information so valuable for crossword puzzles and Trivial Pursuit, I was chasing balls and girls and reading comics. When I reached forty, I felt the urge to apologize to my brain by making up for lost opportunity. So began a program of self-ed, going over all those things I should have been reading at school. I still don’t read enough but when I do have time it’s non-fiction. I’m currently through The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia by Alfred W McCoy. This is background for...[read on]

Among the early praise for Killed at the Whim of a Hat:

"Cotterill [is] so mordantly clever that it’s a line-by-line pleasure to enjoy his phrasing.... [T]he Jimm Juree series is off to at least as good a start as the Dr. Siri one was. It has the potential to be even better."
--Janet Maslin, New York Times

"[An] excellent first in a new series.... Cotterill ... combines a wry narrative voice with an appealing picture of a world unfamiliar to most Americans."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An ebullient series kickoff by the author of the Dr. Siri series (Love Songs From a Shallow Grave, 2010, etc.). Character and quirky comedy trump mystery, and lay a great foundation for further involving adventures."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Cotterill is strong on atmosphere, but doesn't create some fantasy land of oriental beauty. Jimm, herself an ordinary-looking woman in her mid-thirties, has some sharp comments on developments in Thai culture, such as 'Asian Babe' fashion, where girls have their photos airbrushed into Barbie lookalikes for online beauty competitions. Cotterill's fiction has been compared to Alexander McCall Smith's, presumably because it also has a colourful location. It is far more complex and perceptive: intelligent exotica."
--Jane Jakeman, The Independent

Learn more about the book and author at Colin Cotterill's website.

The Page 69 Test: Anarchy and Old Dogs.

My Book, The Movie: Curse of the Pogo Stick.

The Page 69 Test: Killed at the Whim of a Hat.

My Book, The Movie: Killed at the Whim of a Hat.

Writers Read: Colin Cotterill.

--Marshal Zeringue