038. The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken (2012).

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken by Tarquin Hall (2012).

A delightful mystery with lots of adorable characters.

Only thing sharp here is the plot and the rest is just really entertaining ride.

Vish Puri could be a true heir to the short list of true old school-master PIs: Holmes, Poirot, Marlowe etc.

This is the one you should really include in your collection ‘cause you won’t easily find any books more enjoyable than this one.

  

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layers. –Vish Puri. The best & most private PI in India, possibly in the world.

Ex-military intelligent agent turned a PI, he is sharp, elegant, brilliant, resourceful, dangerous to his enemies and most of all, always closes his cases. 

His similarity to the legend is quite obvious: he talks, acts, thinks and somewhat looks like Hercule Poirot. The only difference is that being an Indian, Puri has dozens of cousins and relatives all across the country. Also, contrary to Poirot, he has been happily married with three daughters.

Possibly the only thing he can’t get a hold on is his weigh. 91 kg (200 pounds) and glowing and no sign of slowing down even if his wife’s tight scrutiny and supervision. 

He is happily married to a beautiful woman named Rumpy (good husband) and a very much loves his three daughters (good father, too). 

Only thing he lacks, he thinks, is fame and recognition that his enormous talent deserves even if he is the most famous/dependable private detective in India. Like I said, Indian Poirot. I love this guy.

Here is Vish Puri’s colorful assortment of agents. They are all excellent at their jobs and all have brilliant codenames. Puri is simply a genius.

Tubelight.  Puri’s right-hand man. He does everything from break in to bodyguard and does it better than anyone around. He used to be the top thief in India. Now working for Puri fulltime.  

Flush.  A computer and electronic wiz kid. Also, a hacker and a surveillance expert.

Facecream. A gorgeous beauty who can be anything she wants to be. A true chameleon.

Handbrake.  Puri’s daredevil driver who can navigate India’s insane street like man-possessed. Possibly the best driver in the world.

Chanel No.5.  A punk street kid who knows all the streets in his city.

The other regulars are his beloved wife Rumpy who call him “Chubby” with affection and his mum who is as smart and mysterious as Puri and of course all sorts of oddball suspects and clients.

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lace. – India which is one of the most diverse country in the world for better or worse. It is extremely divided country where the gap between rich and poor is not just incredibly wide, it is also fixed with no way of getting out of it.

However, that doesn’t prevent people being happy according to a lot of characters in this book.

Also, Puri has to travel to Pakistan for taking care of some lose end and man, does he hate it! Apparently, India and Pakistan have been in Cold War since 70’s. 

Something to do with India helping Bangladesh taking chunk of land away from Pakistan, according to Puri. No wonder they are constantly shooting at each other.

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lot. – In this book, the invincible and unbeatable Puri deals with three different cases together.

One. One piece of deadly butter chicken with poison in it which kills the star cricket player’s father in front of the most influential people in India: The case of Deadly Butter Chicken.

Two. One mysterious thief/rubber who, out of everything, steals (rather, cleanly shaves off) the best mustaches in India. Hence, The Case of mysterious and really annoying Mustache Thief. This case matters because Puri is a proud member of MOP (Mustache Organization of Punjab). 

The last and probably the most serious. Puri’s constantly growing, out of control weight! This is quite serious matter just because His wife Rumpi is keeping tap on it. Puri, however elegant he is outside, once at home, becomes a good father and humble husband.

Now, out of these three, only one case Puri miserably fails. Can you care to guess?

Hint: Puri’s nickname is CHUBBY and he is currently sitting on 91kg (around 200 pounds).

Puri has to deal with all of above by manipulating his way through amazingly corrupt Indian bureaucracy with the connection he built over years of hard work as a military intelligent officer, and also with the help of his vast network of agents. 

And when nothing works, he can always buy his way through it. Money always talks in India.

Like all good mysteries, it is filled with all sort of odd characters and believe it or not, quite a few action sequences, provided by Puri’s most private investigator team.

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erdict. –This is one of those books that should get a lot more attention than what its getting now, which is almost nothing, I think. Which of course is our loss ‘cause this book rocks!!

What starts as a seemingly simple murder turns into totally different affair as soon as it gets going and at the end, with international spies, military general, corrupt politicians and blackmailing gangsters, it becomes one of the most interesting mystery I’ve ever read. 

This book will make you grin like idiot from start to end with all the jokes and really funny characters who just pop up everywhere!!

037. The Sparrow (1996).

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996).

One of the weirdest books I’ve ever read.

It’s part fantasy, part religion and all together some sort of strange adventure/mystery novel with possibly most complicated characters with most twisted relasioship I’ve ever read.  

Could be a masterpiece but I’m not quite sure…

  

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layers. –All the major players in this book have either traumas or deep self-doubts and wear masks to hide their true nature. Creepy but great for the storyline.

Father Emilio Sandoz. A really hard working Jesuit who is also intelligent, funny, passionate, street-tough and extremely good looking (sexy, too).

A genius in linguistic, he learns to speak/understand French, Spanish, English, Puerto Rican, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic, and many more. And this communication skill is the reason why he becomes the part of the team travelling to foreign planet.

The only survival from the human being’s first extraterrestrial exploration. So naturally, he is the one who carries this book to the shocking end.

Sofia Mendes.  A child prostitute turned a computer expert. She is as precise as computer and as cool too. Mirror opposite of Father Emilio.

She moves jobs to jobs depending on the contract and learning everything required to do the jobs in between. A genius. 

She is also as beautiful as it gets. A perfect example of beauty with brain.

Jimmy Quinn.  An astronomer who first finds (de-codes) the songs from Alpha Centauri.  Also, a specialist in navigation and communications.

A good friend of Emilio and George and Ann.

George and Ann Edwards.  A computer expert and a physician couple. They are both old (64) and wise and adventurous. Just great people to be around. 

The rest are either another astronauts or priests from the churches or all sorts of weird creatures from Alpha Centauri.

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lace. – Rome. More precisely, a huge church of Rome where Father Emilio takes a refuge after coming back from the space all damaged and crushed.

And Puerto Rico where Jimmy and Sofia work at Arecibo telescope, Emilio at the street and George and Ann in free street clinic.

And then, galaxy far far away at Alpha Centauri, the world of Rakhat and all other creatures.

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lot. – Like a lot of interesting books with complicated storyline, this book also adapts the same two part formula that recycles by hundreds of writers out there: the first, developing story, part and the second, drastic and exciting climax, part. However here is the problem with this book. This book does divide into two parts like all others, but the two sides are so wide apart, even after finishing the book, I still can’t figure out exact storyline and what happen. Or more likely, why. 

The first half is really well written stories with quite a few fascinating characters interacting with each other developing relationship and inevitably revealing their past and personalities. Now, this part is really good. The other half, I’m not sure. 

Out of everything, the second half becomes, get this, an outer space exploration SF adventure!! In alien planet full of weird (kind of)human like creature with bizarre customs and crazy attitudes!! Not to mention insane sexual activities with insane creatures!! You have to read it to believe it. It’s so strange.

Ok. Here is the actual story.

After a long night of party with dance, songs and broken heart, Jimmy retreats into his cubicle and in there surrounded by bitter solitude, he stumbles upon a beautiful song from outer space.

The church, CHURCH! not government, assembles the crew of eight and send them to Alpha Centauri to explore the new world. And of course, everything goes wrong and Father Emilio is the only survivor coming back barely alive. How and Why?  

The story jumps around between before the mission (2019~39) and after (2059~).

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erdict. –There is not much to say about this book just because I still can’t figure out what kind of book this is. This is one of those books that you really have to read it to understand it. Do not believe what other people say about it especially the book reviews on its back. They’ve got it all so wrong or just print out cliché after cliché so that they don’t scare away any potential readers, I think.

This book is like “A Planet of Apes” with really great, deep and extremely disturbed characters and even crazier apes. Well, at least second half of it.

For all I know, " The Sparrow" could be a blown away masterpiece or just one crazy book written by weird gipsy or something.