Against all his expectations, Dr Siri Paiboun has rather enjoyed his first five months in office. Now, as hot-season nights close in, Siri is spirited away from Laos'' steamy capital on a Matter of National Security. Arriving in Luang Prabang, he''s a busy man, examining carbonized corpses, dining with the deposed king, attending a shamans'' conference and being rescued by the ghost of an elephant. Not that Siri''s complaining ... Luang Prabang is in mountains and a good fifteen degrees cooler.Meanwhile, back at Vientiane headquarters, it''s hot. Bloody hot - savaged bodies are piling up in Siri''s absence. Is it the missing black bear from the circus, or could it be a weretiger? Siri''s trusty assistant Nurse Dtui goes snooping but, unlike her boss, the spirits aren''t looking out for her... And just what creature, if any, has thirty-three teeth?