On the islands of Java and Bali in the early 1980s, Western governments are pouring millions of dollars into development schemes even as Indonesian strongman President Suharto violently stifles dissent.

For Canadian veterinarian Abner Dueck, the “spice islands” are an exotic locale for the seemingly mundane work of examining dead cows and working with old friends. Dueck’s life changes abruptly when some of the cows die under mysterious circumstances, and he meets a mysterious young Chinese woman; soon after, two of his friends—one Canadian and one Indonesian—are murdered.

Mennonite Dueck, marshalls the energy to battle Indonesian politics and the attempts of local businessmen, military rulers, and international “advisors” to manipulate development projects to their own ends.

And to unravel the mysterious deaths of both cattle and people, Dueck must first understand the long shadow that the 1966 massacres cast on Indonesian life, as well as the complexities of their music, and the demands and intrigues of love and conspiracy, death and mystery, and of course, cultural heritage and personal identity.

Reviews

Set in the repressive Indonesia of the early 1980s, Waltner-Toews‚’s compelling debut introduces an unlikely detective, Canadian veterinarian Abner Dueck. Dueck‚’s investigation of the suspicious contents of a dead cow‚’s stomach appears to result in the deaths of two friends and puts the vet in the uncomfortable position of trying to find out who killed them in a country where asking questions can lead to a quick burial. The list of possible suspects is endless, from whoever is poisoning cattle with strychnine to Dueck‚’s own colleagues, skillfully characterized during a tour de force of a party scene. Constrained by threats to his life, Dueck never gets easy answers as he becomes enmeshed in a complex web of alliances and murder theories provided by people with their own interests at heart. Readers will be surprised to find descriptions of animal autopsies as intriguing as political schemes in this powerful and highly original portrait of a particular time and place. -- Publishers Weekly (12/24/2007)

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David Waltner-Toews is a genuine polymath...In his free time, he's written his first mystery novel, and it's terrific. Lots of specialists of one sort or another attempt crime novels, and usually they're pretty awful. But Waltner-Toews does exactly the right thing. He sticks to what he knows, puts together a credible and intriguing plot, chooses an exotic setting and tells his story. The opening line - "There is something warm and comforting about doing an autopsy on a cow" - is guaranteed to set the reader up for something just a little different. And that's exactly what follows...As a poet, Waltner-Toews has a lovely ear for language and description. As a vet, he takes us into the centre of a cow's carcass, and his grasp of politics and recent Indonesian history is clear and readable....a very fine debut. --Margaret Cannon, Globe & Mail (10/6/2007)