Books

More Sauce!

Hall's writing is refreshingly deft and he has mastered the unique syntax of middle-class Delhi English

Advertisement

More Sauce!
info_icon
F

Tarquin Hall’s The Case of the Missing Servant was glued to my hands from the start. That’s when we meet 51-year-old Vish Puri—protagonist and owner of Khan Market’s ‘Most Private Investigations’—happily devouring a box of chilli pakoras, carefully erasing evidence of unhealthy eating from his doting wife, Rumpi. A Punjabi to his core, Puri is punctilious and proud, a master of disguise and bestower of cringe-worthy monikers like Tubelight, Facecream and Door Stop. Puri’s sleuthing takes him across contemporary Delhi and beyond—to Jharkhand’s tribal belt and Jaipur, where a family engages him to track down a mysteriously absent maid. Those investigations unearth dark secrets and have unintended consequences. Along the way lurk assassins, temptresses and plenty of Royal Challenge whisky.

Advertisement

Hall’s writing is refreshingly deft and he has mastered the unique syntax of middle-class Delhi English. Most promisingly, it’s clear Vish Puri has many cases to come and more chilli pakoras to devour, whatever Rumpi might say.

Tags

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement