Siri Paiboun is suddenly a busy man. Five months into his new role as National (and only) Coroner, he has been called to the capital on a 'matter of national security'.

Soon enough, he's examining carbonized corpses, meeting the deposed king and attending a shaman's conference.

Meanwhile, back at his woefully inadequate morgue, savagely mauled bodies are piling up and Siri's assistant decides to investigate. Can she be dealing with a weretiger, or is it a bear of some kind? Whatever kind of animal has thirty-three teeth?