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.
V
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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!!
