The case of the man who died laughing by Tarquin Hall

"The case of the man who died laughing" by Tarquin Hall. This is the second book of Vish Puri mysteries and is 320 pages long.

Dr. Jha, an ex professor and a well known personality, also called 'Guru buster', who has exposed a number of gurus and God men as frauds; is killed while laughing with his 'laughing club' mates. The killer is none other than 20 ft tall goddess Kali floating in air and the murder weapon, a sword, turns to dust after the killing. Dr. Jha was trying to expose a politically connected guru Maharaj Swami.

Vish Puri is called by Inspector in charge for investigating the murder in an unofficial capacity. Puri is convinced that illusion, rather than divine intervention, was used for the murder. But he is short of evidence. His assistants facecream and tubelight are pressed into service. Facecream, a beautiful young woman and reformed Maoist from Nepal, goes undercover.

There are two more murders. A conspiracy comes to light. What is it? Who is the murderer? Can Vish Puri live up to his reputation and solve the case? Will the political interference stop him? Is Maharaj Swami a fake?

The story has  steady pace. Vish Puri's characteristics have  similarities to Hercule Poirot. Again the author, who is not an Indian, has demonstrated his power of observation while creating an Indian set up by using details of everyday life, Indian English and attitude towards everything. In this book he has gone to the extent of describing god bharai (गोद भराई) ceremony in detail.

A parallel investigation by Vish Puri's mummyji appears in this story as well. I am not sure why author choose to add a side story that has no relevance to main story. The side story dilutes the main story.  More page space should have been given to the character of Maharaj Swami. Otherwise the story is OK.

The character of Dr. Jha seems to be based on real life figure of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar of Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (अंधश्रद्धा निर्मूलन समिती). This book was, however, written before the real murder of Dr. Dabholkar.

It's a decent book. Read for fun if you have time.

The case of the missing servant by Tarquin Hall

"The case of the missing servant" by Tarquin Hall. This is the first mystery novel of Vish Puri series.

Tarquin Hall is a British author who has spent a lot of time in the subcontinent. Vish Puri is his private detective, owner of 'Most private investigators', operating out of Delhi. He is 51 year old chubby Punjabi, father of three daughters, has large mustaches, short height, is intelligent and has an ego (since he knows that he is the best). Readers of mystery must have, by now, noticed the similarities with Hercule Poirot of Agatha Christie. He also tends to his terrace flower garden daily. This trait is similar to Nero Wolf of Rex Stout.

A lawyer from Jaipur hires Vish Puri. A lady servant has gone missing and police doubt that the lawyer has murdered her. A retired army officer wants Puri to investigate bridegroom of his grand daughter, a civilian,  and prove that he is not worthy. An attempt is made on Puri's life and Puri could not get any clue. But his mummy wants to investigate and track the shooter.

Puri starts the investigation with help of his assistants code named 'handbrake', 'tube light', 'door stop', 'face cream' etc. The lawyer is arrested and ex-driver of lawyer is murdered. The plot thickens.

Who is the murderer? Is it one or more? Can Vish Puri solve all three cases? Does his mummy help or create more problems?

This story and all Vish Puri mysteries take place in India. Tarquin has written the story with all the details of daily Indian life that speaks a lot about his observation power. The author has used the Indian English very effectively. Tarquin has caught the pulse of Delhi perfectly. The language, the way things work or do not work, the interactions between the characters, everything is perfect. Reading the book you can not make out that the author is not an Indian.

This book does not have major twists. The story is evenly paced and you remain interested.

A good read. Recommend reading.