Some mystery series adopt a backdrop in which indigenous cultures are forced to deal with the incursion of a more modern and powerful civilization. One example would be Eliott Pattison's of mysteries set in Tibet ("The Skull Mantra," etc.), featuring Chinese homicide investigator Shan Tao Yun.
In "Curse of the Pogo Stick," set in Laos in the 1970s, Colin Cotterill works the Hmong people into his narrative.
It seems Dr. Siri Paiboun, in addition to being a French-trained physician and the national coroner of Laos, also happens to be possessed by the spirit of a powerful Hmong shaman. How do we know this? He speaks their tongue fluently without ever having studied it.