The Case of the Missing Servant is the first book in the series about detective Vish Puri, India’s ‘Most Private Investigator’, by British author Tarquin Hall. The book is set in India, moving between the cities of Delhi, neighbouring Gurgaon, Jaipur and even going as far as remote tribal villages in Jharkhand. The author has lived for sometime in India and is married to an Indian-American and this helps him avoid the most obvious of clichés generally resorted to otherwise. The book is easy reading with an uncomplicated plot and some side stories all of which are resolved at the end.
This book has been unreasonably compared to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith with probably the only similarity being that it is not set in the traditional British or American setting. The 51 year old detective dislikes being compared to Sherlock Holmes, but has a moustache that probably even Hercule Poirot would be proud of. He is trying to track down a missing servant, with the only information available to him being her first name Mary and that her skin colour is dark.
Vish Puri’s detecting skills are based a lot on use of his brains with ideas borrowed from Chanakya, a shrewd, famous economist and minister in ancient India. However, he does not discount the use of forensics either and we are informed that India was a pioneer in this field with tools like fingerprinting, substance testing like tobacco ash comparisons, having been developed in the country. He successively uses modern technology like phone tapping etc. in order to solve his cases.
The book is enjoyable though it can get irritating sometimes. If you are looking for some light hearted, amusing reading with a few mysteries thrown in, this is definitely the book to go for.
This book has been unreasonably compared to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith with probably the only similarity being that it is not set in the traditional British or American setting. The 51 year old detective dislikes being compared to Sherlock Holmes, but has a moustache that probably even Hercule Poirot would be proud of. He is trying to track down a missing servant, with the only information available to him being her first name Mary and that her skin colour is dark.
Vish Puri’s detecting skills are based a lot on use of his brains with ideas borrowed from Chanakya, a shrewd, famous economist and minister in ancient India. However, he does not discount the use of forensics either and we are informed that India was a pioneer in this field with tools like fingerprinting, substance testing like tobacco ash comparisons, having been developed in the country. He successively uses modern technology like phone tapping etc. in order to solve his cases.
The book is enjoyable though it can get irritating sometimes. If you are looking for some light hearted, amusing reading with a few mysteries thrown in, this is definitely the book to go for.
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