Description
Murder is no laughing matter.
Yet a prominent Indian scientist dies in a fit of giggles when a Hindu goddess appears from a mist and plunges a sword into his chest.
The only one laughing now is the main suspect, a powerful guru named Maharaj Swami, who seems to have done away with his most vocal critic.
Vish Puri, India’s Most Private Investigator, master of disguise and lover of all things fried and spicy, doesn’t believe the murder is a supernatural occurrence, and proving who really killed Dr. Suresh Jha will require all the detective’s earthly faculties. To get at the truth, he and his team of undercover operatives—Facecream, Tubelight, and Flush—travel from the slum where India’s hereditary magicians must be persuaded to reveal their secrets to the holy city of Haridwar on the Ganges.
How did the murder weapon miraculously crumble into ash? Will Maharaj Swami have the last laugh? And perhaps more important, why is Puri’s wife, Rumpi, chasing petty criminals with his Mummy-ji when she should be at home making his rotis?
Stopping only to indulge his ample Punjabi appetite, Puri uncovers a web of spirituality, science, and sin unique in the annals of crime.
About the Author
Tarquin Hall is a British author and journalist who has lived and worked throughout South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He is the author of The Case of the Missing Servant, dozens of articles, and three works of non-fiction, including the highly acclaimed Salaam Brick Lane, an account of a year spent above a Bangladeshi sweat shop in London's notorious East End. He is married to Indian-born journalist, Anu Anand. They divide their time between London and Delhi.
Praise for The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator…
“India, captured in all its pungent, vivid glory, fascinates almost as much as the crime itself.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Vish Puri is the most original detective in years. Tarquin Hall has captured India in a way few Western writers have managed since Kipling. The country's humor, commotion, and vibrancy bursts from every page, exposing its vast, labyrinthine underbelly. Scintillating!”
—Tahir Shah, author of The Caliph's House
“Speaking of sweet stuff. . ..This first novel is set in Delhi, where Vish Puri, founder and director of Most Private Investigators, Ltd., performs discreet investigations into the backgrounds of prospective grooms, with surprising and often comic results.”
? Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
“The debut of what promises to be an outstanding series?.An excellent, delightfully humorous mystery with an unforgettable cast of characters, The Case of the Missing Servant immediately joins the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency as representing the best in international cozies.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Vish Puri is not easily forgotten. Properly disdainful of unoriginal crime-busters like Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, his unique methods of detection deserve to be widely known and feted.”
—David Davidar, author of The Solitude of Emperors
“Great fun, and full of musings on modern India.”
—Christian Science Monitor
“Hall has concocted a delicious book?.Move over, Slumdog Millionaire!”
—Anne Grant, Providence Journal-Bulletin (Rhode Island)
