Tarquin Hall

Early one morning, on the lawns of a grand boulevard in central Delhi, a group of professionals are attending their therapeutic Laughing Club when a 20-foot apparition of the Goddess Kali apppears, a

Meet Vish Puri, India''s most private investigator. Portly, persistent and unmistakably Punjabi, he cuts a determined swathe through modern India''s swindlers, cheats and murderers. In hot and dusty Delhi, where call centers and malls are changing the ancient fabric of Indian life, Puri''s main work comes from screening prospective marriage partners, a job once the preserve of aunties and family priests. But when an honest public litigator is accused of murdering his maidservant, it takes all of Puri''s resources to investigate.How will he trace the fate of the girl, known only as Mary, in a population of more than one billion? Who is taking pot shots at him and his prize chilli plants? And why is his widowed ''Mummy-ji'' attempting to play sleuth when everyone knows Mummies are not detectives? With his team of undercover operatives - Tubelight, Flush and Facecream - Puri ingeniously combines modern techniques with principles of detection established in India more than two thousand years ago - long before ''that Johnny-come-lately'' Sherlock Holmes donned his Deerstalker. The search for Mary takes him to the desert oasis of Jaipur and the remote mines of Jharkhand. From his well-heeled Gymkhana Club to the slums where the servant classes live, Puri''s adventures reveal modern India in all its seething complexity.

Meet Vish Puri, India s most private investigator. Portly, persistent and unmistakably Punjabi, he cuts a determined swathe through modern India s swindlers, cheats and murderers. In hot and dusty Delhi, where call centres and malls are changing the ancient fabric of Indian life, Puri s main work comes from screening prospective marriage partners, a job once the preserve of aunties and family priests. But when an honest public litigator is accused of murdering his maidservant, it takes all of Puri s resources to investigate. How will he trace the fate of the girl, known only as Mary, in a population of more than one billion? Who is taking pot shots at him and his prize chilli plants? And why is his widowed Mummy-ji attempting to play sleuth when everyone knows Mummies are not detectives? With his team of undercover operatives Tubelight, Flush and Facecream Puri ingeniously combines modern techniques with principles of detection established in India more than two thousand years ago -- long before that Johnny-come-lately Sherlock Holmes donned his Deerstalker. The search for Mary takes him to the desert oasis of Jaipur and the remote mines of Jharkhand. From his well-heeled Gymkhana Club to the slums where the servant classes live, Puri s adventures reveal modern India in all its seething complexity.

Los asesinatos no son cuestión de risa. Bien lo sabe Vish Puri, el detective más privado de la India, maestro del disfraz y amante de la comida frita y picante, que se halla volcado en la investigac

Los asesinatos no son cuestión de risa. Bien lo sabe Vish Puri, el detective más privado de la India, maestro del disfraz y amante de la comida frita y picante, que se halla volcado en la investigacion de la extraña muerte de un conocido cientifico. El doctor Suresh Jha murio de modo repentino mientras realizaba sus ejercicios matutinos en el Club de la risa de Delhi. Puri no comparte la opinion de aquellos que atribuyen el hecho a una diosa y, para probar que esta en lo cierto, rastreara -junto a su peculiar equipo de ayudantes- desde los suburbios mas pobres a los clubes mas selectos, y viajara de Delhi a la ciudad sagrada de Haridwar, a orillas del Ganges. Vish Puri permitiendose solo las pausas indispensables para saciar su generoso apetito punjabi- desmantelara una red de espiritualidad, ciencia y pecado, unica en los anales del crimen.

Early one morning, on the lawns of a grand boulevard in central Delhi, a group of professionals are attending their therapeutic Laughing Club when a 20-foot apparition of the Goddess Kali apppears, and strikes one of their number dead. The goddess disappears without trace, and soon news of the crime has all India agog. For the victim is celebrated sceptic and rationalist Dr Suresh Jha, enemy of all gurus and mystics, and he has been silenced in a manner calculated to unnerve even his most loyal supporters. As the media go into a frenzy, it becomes clear that the case goes to the heart of the battle between superstition and rationality in modern India. But the fact remains that a murder has been committed. And as it becomes clear that powerful forces are at play, one man is perfectly placed to investigate: the portly detective Vish Puri. In fact, the idea that he could resist getting involved in such a tantalizing murder is preposterous. There is as much chance of him going without his lunch.

Una novela hilarante protagonozada por un inolvidable elenco de personajes. Estamos ante la primera entrega de una serie muy prometedora. Vish Puri, el detective más avispado de la India, al menos en su propia estimacion, emplea sus dotes detectivescas a lo Sherlock Holmes para resolver los casos mas variopintos. A pesar de que sus metodos estan algo anticuados ante la modernidad galopante que esta transformando a su pais, son sorprendetemente efecivos. Un dia, Puri recibe la visita de un prominente abogado punjabi acusado de la desaparicion de una sirvienta que trabajaba en su casa. Desde su destartalado despacho, y con la ayuda de su pintoresco equipo de colaboradores, Puri -que se mueve como pez en el agua entre los estratos sociales mas dispares- viajara al Rajastan, donde reside su cliente, para iniciar la investigacion. Tarquin Hall ofrece humor e ingenio en una novela que cuenta con unos originales personajes que transitan por una India contemporanea llena de contrastes.

Vish Puri, el detective más avispado de la India, al menos en su propia estimación, emplea sus dotes detectivescas a lo Sherlock Holmes para resolver los casos más variopintos. A pesar de que sus métodos estan algo anticuados ante la modernidad galopante que esta transformando a su pais, son sorprendetemente efecivos. Un dia, Puri recibe la visita de un prominente abogado punjabi acusado de la desaparicion de una sirvienta que trabajaba en su casa. Desde su destartalado despacho, y con la ayuda de supintoresco equipo de colaboradores, Puri -que se mueve como pez en el agua entre los estratos sociales mas dispares- viajara al Rajastan, donde reside su cliente, para iniciar la investigacion.

Vish Puri is as fond of butter chicken as the next Punjabi. And when theres plenty on offer at the Delhi Durbar hotel where hes attending an India Premier League cricket match dinner, hes the first to tuck in. Irfan Khan, father of Pakistani star cricketer Kamran Khan, cant resist either. But the creamy dish proves his undoing.

The wonderful fourth outing for Delhi detective Vish Puri (the Indian Hercule Poirot Financial Times). When Indias Love Commandos rescue a young woman from a high-caste family who has been forbidden from marrying an untouchable, she looks set to live happily ever after with the man she truly loves.

A sampler from each title in Halls fun, exotic, mystery series, about which Andrew McCall Smith says, These books are little gems. They are beautifully written, amusing, and intensely readable.An honest public litigator is accused of murdering his maidservant in The Case of the Missing Servant;the Hindu goddess Kali comes down to earth and murders a laughing scientist in The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing; and the father of the most prominent cricket player in India dies at a feast in The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken. In each of these unique, humorous mysteries, the beloved Most Private Investigator, Vish Puri, sets out to get to the bottom of these witty whodunits, with many a hiccup along the way.

The wonderful fourth outing for Delhi detective Vish Puri (the Indian Hercule PoirotFinancial Times).When Indias Love Commandos rescue a young woman from a high-caste family who has been forbidden from marrying an untouchable, she looks set to live happily ever after with the man she truly loves. But just hours before the wedding, her boyfriend, Ram, is abducted. Has his would-be father-in-law made good on his promise and done away with him?It falls to Vish Puri to find out. Unfortunately, hes not having a good month. He cant locate a haul of stolen jewellery. Hes been pickpocketed. And the only person who can get his wallet back is his interfering Mummy-ji.Things only get worse when he discovers that his arch-rival, Hari Kumar, is also trying to locate the abducted boy as is a genetics research institute exploiting illiterate villagers.To find Ram first, Puri and his team must travel into the badlands of rural India where the local politics are shaped by millennia-old caste prejudices.If Mma Ramotswe is an African Marple, Vish Puri is an Indian PoirotFinancial TimesA joy to readThe Times

Vish Puri is as fond of butter chicken as the next Punjabi. And when theres plenty on offer at the Delhi Durbar hotel where hes attending an India Premier League cricket match dinner, hes the first to tuck in. Irfan Khan, father of Pakistani star cricketer Kamran Khan, cant resist either. But the creamy dish proves his undoing. After a few mouthfuls, he collapses on the floor, dead.Clearly this isnt a case of Delhi Belly.But who amongst the Bollywood stars, politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists poisoned Khan is a mystery. And with the capitals police chief proving as incompetent as ever, it falls to Most Private Investigators to find out the truth.Puri is soon able to link Khan to a bald bookie called Full Moon and all the clues point to the involvement of a gambling syndicate that controls the illegal billion dollar betting industry.The answers seem to lie in Surat, the diamond cutting and polishing capital of the world (where Puris chief undercover operative Tubelight meets his match) and across the border in Pakistan, Puris nemesis, the one country where he has sworn never to set foot.Or do they? A certain determined, grey-haired lady with a unique insight into the murder believes that the portly detective is barking up a wrong tree.Is Mummy-ji right?Is there more to the murder than meets the eye? And why, to make life even more complicated for Vish Puri, has someone tried to steal the longest moustache in the world - from right under the nose of its owner? Literally.

Early one morning, on the lawns of a grand boulevard in central Delhi, a group of professionals are attending their therapeutic Laughing Club when a 20-foot apparition of the Goddess Kali apppears, and strikes one of their number dead.The goddess disappears without trace, and soon news of the crime has all India agog. For the victim is celebrated sceptic and rationalist Dr Suresh Jha, enemy of all gurus and mystics, and he has been silenced in a manner calculated to unnerve even his most loyal supporters. As the media go into a frenzy, it becomes clear that the case goes to the heart of the battle between superstition and rationality in modern India. But the fact remains that a murder has been committed. And as it becomes clear that powerful forces are at play, one man is perfectly placed to investigate: the portly detective Vish Puri. In fact, the idea that he could resist getting involved in such a tantalizing murder is preposterous. There is as much chance of him going without his lunch.

_________________________________________Great funThe TimesThe smell of chat and kachoris seems to waft from the pageDaily TelegraphMeet Vish Puri, Indias most private investigator.Portly, persistent and unmistakably Punjabi, he cuts a determined swathe through modern Indias swindlers, cheats and murderers.In hot and dusty Delhi, where call centres and malls are changing the ancient fabric of Indian life, Puris main work comes from screening prospective marriage partners, a job once the preserve of aunties and family priests. But when an honest public litigator is accused of murdering his maidservant, it takes all of Puris resources to investigate. How will he trace the fate of the girl, known only as Mary, in a population of more than one billion? Who is taking pot shots at him and his prize chilli plants? And why is his widowed Mummy-ji attempting to play sleuth when everyone knows Mummies are not detectives?With his team of undercover operatives - Tubelight, Flush and Facecream - Puri ingeniously combines modern techniques with principles of detection established in India more than two thousand years ago -- long before that Johnny-come-lately Sherlock Holmes donned his Deerstalker.The search for Mary takes him to the desert oasis of Jaipur and the remote mines of Jharkhand. From his well-heeled Gymkhana Club to the slums where the servant classes live, Puris adventures reveal modern India in all its seething complexity.