With a growing career as an investigative crime reporter in Chiang Mai, Thailand, it definitely was not Jimm Juree's decision to move to a remote and rural area of the country to run an old and falling apart beach resort, but she did along with her other family members. For her own reasons, Jimm's mother made that decision and so the lovely Jimm gave up her big city job. Now she is valiantly striving to get a half decent assignment from the local rag, the Chumphon News, in between correcting English translations (although the direct translations from Thai are most amusing) and writing unsolicited movie scripts for Clint Eastwood.

Finally, she is asked to do a piece on a local foreign English speaking writer living in their area. Yet, as she sets out to do the article, events conspire to make it a more dark and sinister assignment than she first thought, especially as his wife is missing. Is he charming or trying to hide something?

Meanwhile, another woman is missing. Da, a local and caring nurse and good friend of Jimm's, is worried about Dr. Somluk who was four days overdue from returning from a trip. Would Jimm help her find where and why the female doctor, so badly needed in the village and who had left her stuff, has gone? Sissi, Jimm's transsexual sister, also happens to be an incredible hacker who is fearless in searching the depths of the internet to find the info they need. Surely, they should be able to find a trace of Dr. Somluk very quickly.... But what they find makes them very worried. What is behind the doctor's disappearance?

THE AXE FACTOR is the third novel in The Jimm Jurree Mystery Series set in Thailand by Colin Cotterill, the internationally acclaimed author of "The Dr. Siri Series" which is set in Laos. As a fan of The Coroner's Lunch and the other books in that series, I eagerly awaited my copy of THE AXE FACTOR. While differing in style in many aspects, I fully found THE AXE FACTOR to be wonderfully witty and entertaining, full of intriguing and eccentric character while the storyline is solidly researched and interlaced with serious issues, especially those affecting rural women. Like Cotterill's previous books, THE AXE FACTOR is laugh out loud hilarious in spots, yet, it has its share of dangerous and violent situations and unusual twists.

As THE AXE FACTOR is my first read in the new series, I can fully attest to the fact that it reads quite well as a stand-alone book; yet, to get the fullest benefit from the story, readers may want to give consideration to reading some of Cotterill's earlier books first. Jimm is a very likable and wonderfully independent character. Her behaviour nicely balances what her curiosity wants her to do while staying somewhat in keeping with her family's unique values and slightly mysterious circumstances. Is her mother really where she said she would be? Can Jimm believe her?

I have to admit that one of the features that I particularly enjoy in reading in THE AXE FACTOR involve the typos on the signs (also used as chapter headings) of the English translations that Jimm needs to fix, such as "Kindly Watch Your Hands Before or After Using Computer (java coffee shop). They give delightful comic relief (along with the names and descriptions of his characters) yet, help to highlight many of the interesting juxtapositions and paradoxes that Cotterill portrays so authentically in his depictions of everyday life in rural Thailand. I am sure fans who have already read Cotterill's previous books will find THE AXE FACTOR a very welcome addition and new readers have a reading treat to relish! I certainly am looking forward to reading more in this series! Enjoy!