The Coroner's Lunch. What a splendid title, and what a splendid book. It's Colin Cotterill's first novel (Quercus, £12.99), and is a crime story with a decided difference. Set in Laos, for a start. It's 1976, the monarchy has been deposed, and the communists have taken over.

Most of the educated classes have fled, and 72-year-old Dr Siri Paiboun is the only doctor left in the capital. Which is why he is appointed state coroner - a job for which he has no training, no experience, and certainly no inclination. He has two out-of-the-ordinary assistants, which would lift his job from the mundane, were it in that position - and who add enormously to the idiosyncratic flavour of the novel.

Siri's job isn't mundane, in the very least. Dead bodies are a coroner's job, of course, and there are always new customers in the morgue's freezer. Siri finds his work cut out in trying to ascertain the exact causes of death - whether it's a dead fisherman, the wife of a Party leader, or three men drowned in a reservoir, the discovery of which threatens to turn into an international incident.

Cotterill's style is superb. He has a wry sense of humour, like his protagonist, and the descriptive writing is suffused with lovely phrases (he reversed out of his sandals', for instance). The story is second to none, and unusual in every aspect. There are gorgeous passages that simply make one laugh out loud. In short, I haven't enjoyed a book so much in a long time, and will make sure that I look out for others in the series.

Another crime novel, but a far more serious example of the genre, is Stalin's Ghost, by Martin Cruz Smith (Pan Macmillan, £17.99). It's a powerful book, reflecting many of the thoughts and happenings in the Russia of today. The ghost of Stalin is a central character - there are reported sightings in the Chistye Prudy metro station, the deepest station on the Moscow underground network, and which was closed during the war for use as Stalin's headquarters. But now someone appears to be masquerading as Stalin, and a political party is capitalising on these sightings.

Cruz Smith's investigator, Arkady Renko, is assigned to the case. But that's not the only problem he has. His personal world is unravelling - a girlfriend who is his enemy's lover, and a boy who is not his son, and someone who is after his life. Moscow in winter is a dangerous place to be, but even more dangerous is the spring, when the snow melts, because that is when dead bodies are discovered.

And there are plenty of dead bodies here, in addition to those live bodies who are having trouble staying that way. Mass graves uncovered by the Red Diggers' pose more danger - again, this activity has its basis in fact in the real Russia. Like Gorky Park before it, this book would make a great film - a thriller in the most thrilling style, full of action, deeply entangled plots, and a vivid sense of place.