David J. CasarettCritiques

Enjoyable, not quite as madcap as Mary roach, but funny and educational. Warning , there is much to disturb animal lovers, experiments including animals are part of the history presented

Its a perfect book for what it is - a mystery book with interesting characters, an interesting crime, and fairly easy to read. Ladarat Patalung is a great character, she takes great pride in her role as Nurse Ethicist at a hospital in Chiang Mai and applies to her entire life. When she gets involved in a murder, she applies her ethics to her new role of detective.

While I liked the setting, I found the explanations of the different foods and aspects of Thai culture a bit overdone. This is a book written by a man in the US, for a US audience. While I enjoyed learning about Thai culture, it took away from the story.

As for the ending, it is exactly what you expected, no surprises, and everything gets wrapped up at the end.½

The history of resuscitation is much more fascinating than I imagined. The author writes this in the first person and enough humor to make a rather morbid topic very palatable. I found the information on general cryogenics rather boring and some of it cold have been pared down, however the other information was all interesting to me.

I haven’t read the first book in the series but happened to see this one and thought I’d give it a try. Could not get into main character, her main attribute seemed to be an obsession with food yet she is tiny(?) and can’t cook. Otherwise there wasn’t enough going on to keep my interest and did not finish. I kept feeling like it was too much like No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in tone and turn of phrase.

Decent, but overly long. 3/4 of the way in, I just skimmed to finish the book.

An interesting look at the methods we use to resuscitate people whose hearts have stopped and how we can make those methods more effective. Not sure I'm entirely a fan of Casarett's writing style but it was easy to read and pretty informative! While it's nice to look at the "miracles" that can happen in bringing someone back from the dead, and it's great that there's much research into how to do that better, it's important to think about the morality of such decisions. As Casarett says at the end of the book, no one is going to prevent EMTs from trying to resuscitate a loved one in an emergency, even if you know they don't want to be resuscitated. When there's even a slight possibility that they will come through and have some more good years, it's hard to think about the greater possibility (especially among the elderly) that they'll just have a few more painful months or weeks.

Also there's a lot of animal testing in this research area so if you're not cool with reading about that, maybe skip this one!

This one had a variety of mysteries, none particularly baffling, to be solved. I enjoy the writing style and the characters, as well as the Thai setting, so I'm OK with the relative lack of mystery.½

This novel is a cozy mystery set in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. The protagonist, Ladarat, is the nurse ethicist at northern Thailand's best hospital. She is approached by a police detective (Wiriya) known for his honesty for help about a possible murder involving the hospital's emergency room. The author, David Casarett, is an American physician and medical school professor, who has spent a fair amount of time in Thailand working with Thai physicians and nurses.

I enjoyed this contemporary mystery; the setting is different and he offers some gentle humor along with several threads of story. Probably for those who enjoy light fiction with a touch of mystery. I have the second book in the series and I'm looking forward to getting to know Ladarat and Wiriya better.

Olen lukenut paljon turhankin rajuja dekkareita, joten päätin tarttua välillä lempeämpään Kuolema kukko-onnen majatalossa. Tarinan henkilöt olivat sympaattisia ja viihdyin kirjan miljöössä. Kirjan on kirjoittanut amerikkalainen mies ja päähenkilö on thaimaalainen nainen, joka ajattelee kuin amerikkalainen ja myös tiedostaa sen. Tämä asetelma tuntui usein vähintään teennäiseltä. Tuntematta thaimaalaista kulttuuria en edes yritä analysoida ongelmaa perusteellisemmin. Päähenkilö tuntuu myös naivilta. Hän olettaa etsivänsä murhaajaa, joka muuten noudattaa lakia ja on rehellinen. Samalla kuitenkin ollaan maailmassa, jossa ihmiskauppa ja prostituutio ovat todellisuutta. Liian raakoihin dekkareihin kyllästyneelle Kuolema kukko-onnen majatalossa kuitenkin sopii.½

Casarett's first installment in the Ethical Chiang Mai Detective Agency Series drew me in from the beginning, and I'm already looking forward to reading the next book in the series. With believable characters, a real immersion in Thai culture/atmosphere, masterful writing, and a plot that pulled me in from the beginning, this book has a lot to offer. It does have the feel of a cozy despite the fact that it takes place in a large city -- so it was a bit lighter and easy-going than what I'd normally search out in mysteries, but it ended up being a nice change of pace. I will say that the subplot was a bit predictable, but considering all of the high notes this book struck and the intrigue of the primary plot, that seems like a small note.

On the whole, I'd absolutely recommend it, and I'll probably be buying a few copies as gifts for light mystery readers I know!

I won't say that this was predictable; but the only main thing I didn't guess was the destiny of the bodies. Nice glimpses of Thai culture though.

This is a walk through the history of resuscitation science, from the very idea that death may not be so permanent a thing, to the futurists view of a potential cryogenic solution. The solutions people developed have been at times ingenious, hilarious, and remarkably ill-advised. [a: David Casarett|7353447|David Casarett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1492959838p2/7353447.jpg] did a good job of having an active curiosity about even the most questionable claims.

Spoiler Alert: It turns out blowing tobacco smoke up a corpse's rectum may indeed help revive them in certain situations.

Unfortunately, tickling the back of their throat with a feather is not so viable a solution and may indeed do harm.

The true strength of this book was found not in the science, but rather the ethical concerns that the author described. While the science is steadily advancing, in its own fascinating way, the ethical concerns remain doggedly silent. Is it always a good idea to resurrect someone? The costs are rarely considered - both medical, and emotional. Resurrection remains an elusive goal, and even when it does succeed it can often render the person resurrected into a shadow of who they once were. Brain damage, coma, and worse can easily be the outcome which only heightens the cost and makes the 'final' death all the more heartbreaking for the family.

This is a tricky problem, and one unlikely to be solved any time soon. In the interim, at least we have this book to begin conversations, and people like [a: Caitlin Doughty|7802044|Caitlin Doughty|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1489075566p2/7802044.jpg] helping us to realize that often death isn't as terrifying and terrible a thing as many make it out to be.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness, and looked forward to this one with a great deal of anticipation. Unfortunately, The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel was a bit of a disappointment. The characters and the setting are still strong, and the mysteries are intriguing, but this second book in the series really needed more editing and tightening up.

The mysteries took forever to get moving-- mainly due to the fact that too much emphasis was placed on food in the first half. Casarett has definitely tickled my taste buds with his descriptions of Thai food, but having Ladarat attempt to learn to cook was overkill. Once all the food descriptions stopped, the pace picked up and my flagging interest was re-engaged.

There were also too many mysteries to solve: drugged bus passengers, a smuggling ring, tourists disappearing from a strange hotel, a doctor who's acting strangely... and why are so few people dying in the palliative care unit of the hospital? When there are so many investigations screaming for attention, they oftentimes do not get all the attention they deserve, and that's what happened here.

Yes, The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel does have a problem or two, but I'm still looking forward to the next book. There is a wit and humor and gentleness in these two books that just plain makes me feel good. Learning about all the many variations of Thai smiles and feeling good are two excellent reasons to keep reading, don't you agree?½

The central question at the heart of MURDER AT THE HOUSE OF ROOSTER HAPPINESS is whether or not there is a dedicated, husband-killer stalking a certain kind of man in Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. The unlikely team of people who become interested in this case includes the local hospital’s nurse ethicist, Ladarat Patalung, her cousin who runs a local brothel and Wiriyai Mookja, a decorated local police detective who is unwilling to use more traditional techniques at the outset of this unorthodox investigation.

At the same time as she is drawn into her first ever case as a detective, Ladarat must continue to perform her regular duties which include preparing for an impending Royal Inspection of the hospital and seeing to the many issues requiring the application of her skills as an ethicist that arise on a daily basis. Most notably there is the troubling situation of dealing with the family of a young American patient who is thought to be brain dead.

Although David Casarett is not Thai he is a medical doctor who has clearly spent time in the country and not only as a tourist. There is an authentic feel to the book, in particular its insights into modern Thai medicine, but the reverence Casarett clearly feels for the culture is not of a sycophantic level. In fact I was quite surprised to see several reviews complaining about the ‘America bashing’ in the book because I thought one of the things it did well in its highlighting of the differences in the two cultures was to show strengths and weaknesses of both.

I am perhaps more interested than the average person in the field of applied ethics but I really loved the way Casarett has woven this into the story in a realistic but comprehensible way. This added a layer of distinctiveness to the novel which it probably needs given the undeniable similarities between this and Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. The Thai setting is another particular feature, and it goes well beyond the mouth-watering food that Ladarat picks up each night from the vendor at the end of her street. The book is definitely one for virtual travellers.

MURDER AT THE HOUSE OF ROOSTER HAPPINESS is definitely at the cosier end of the crime fiction spectrum but should not be easily dismissed because of that. It offers a genuine glimpse into the culture it depicts and while its characters do not wield guns or encounter blood-dripping corpses they do deal with many of life’s struggles. These include the amusing – such as the seemingly world-wide plague that is bureaucracy – to the difficult ethical issues that modern living throws at us all from time to time including a unique take on prostitution. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Ladarat, her cousin and the detective and will definitely be looking to visit with them again soon.

Through the talents of writers such as Timothy Hallinan, Colin Cotterill, and now David Casarett, I am learning a great deal about the wonderful people of Thailand. How many other cultures do you know of that have names for all of the many different types of human smiles?

I quickly fell under Ladarat Patalung's spell. She is a truly solitary woman whose life revolves around the hospital. She takes her job as an ethicist very seriously, but outside of her job, the only interactions she has are with the person running the food cart in her neighborhood and her cat. (By the way, those stops at that food cart made me ravenous for Thai food!) Ladarat travels to and from the hospital in a forty-year-old Volkswagen Beetle, and the year she spent studying in Chicago means it's easier for her to bridge the cultural gap between East and West when patients and their families need her.

It doesn't take long for us to know what's happening with the woman and her serial husbands; the pleasure is in watching the way Ladarat tracks down this black widow. Ladarat does do something very ill-advised that in other books would make me accuse the main character of being too stupid to live, but in Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness, Ladarat's actions prove her to be as naive as only the truly good-hearted can be. I don't quite know how Casarett managed my volte-face, but kudos to him!

There's more to this book than a nurse ethicist's investigation. Besides the mouth-watering food, there's an extremely important inspection that she needs to get ready for, and a severely injured newlywed couple and their parents who need her skills. I also learned a bit more about the role of Chinese immigrants in Thai history.

This is a book that's perfect for the armchair traveling amateur sleuth. Exotic location. Food. Culture. Intriguing mystery. And a main character who will have you eagerly awaiting the next book in the series-- just as I am.½

library copy