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Opening a Tarquin Hall Vish Puri mystery is like suddenly setting foot in New Delhi, India without transition. All the sights, sounds, smells assail your senses. You are not told what it is like, you are transported there and the feeling remains throughout the book through the setting, the characters and even the plot which could not happen anywhere else. To wit: During an outdoor meeting of a Laughing Club devised to rid people of negative stress, a participant is murdered in a very strange manner. An apparition of the goddess Kali mysteriously materializing through a mist stabs him in the heart. The victim is Dr Suresh Jha, aka the 'Guru Buster,' a renowned debunker of fraudulent swamis and so-called magicians. Vish Puri, head of Delhi's Most Private Investigators, is a detective who takes on all kinds of cases, from a foreigner trying to enroll his children in a good school to murder. Intrigued with the crime, with the aid of his numerous employees, he decides to solve it. Congruent with our mental image of India, everything is abundant and colorful. Vish's helpers are varied and mainly characterized by nicknames: Tubelight, Handbrake, Facecream, etc…, names that reflect their varying talents. His family is numerous. He lives with his wife and his mother, is close to his sister and his foolish brother-in-law. Even his married daughter, expecting twins, has moved in for the last eight weeks of her pregnancy according to tradition. The book illustrates very well the recent evolution of India and the conflicts that arise between the old customs and the new values. One can see it in the motive of the murder pitting believers in all things supernatural against those more inclined to a modern realistic approach. It is also quite clear about the changing role of women in Indian society. Vish wants his wife home cooking to satisfy his voracious appetite – what tempting foods are described! – and berates his mother who also insists on sleuthing, in this case solving a theft at a women's social gathering. On the whole, it is always pleasant to meet up with Vish. His approach to crime solving borrows from the English classics: a touch of Sherlock in his predilection for disguises, a touch of the locked room mystery, and a puzzle to solve. This is all done with humour and the many rebounds in the story keep one interested until the satisfying end. Vish is a warm and endearing character but some readers might get irritated with the writer's use of idioms and peculiar sentence structures to reflect the Indian language and the need at times to consult the glossary, which is thankfully provided. The quantity of information can also somewhat dilute the focus of the story. However these shortcomings are minor and I recommend a trip to Vish Puri's India. It is definitely worth the detour. § Nicole Leclerc is a native Montrealer, avid reader, long time reviewer and moderator of the 4MA online discussion group.
Reviewed by Nicole Leclerc, May 2011
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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