Book review - Nothing is Blue by Biman Nath

I bought this book Nothing is Blue by Biman Nath while waiting at Hyderabad airport. The story - a detective story set in Nalanda caught my attention, and I felt like I had to read the book. I was not disappointed.

This is the first book of the author, who is an astrophysicist by profession, and thus in a good position comment about positions of stars, which form an important part of the story. The story is set in 7th century India and follows the life of Ananda, a student monk at the monastery of Nalanda. The other characters in the story are names which to me are the stuff of legends - Hiuen Tsang, Shilabhadra, Brahmagupta, Khona etc. It is a historical fiction, depicting on the one hand some of the problems that Buddhism had to go through to survive and on the other hand also dealing with some complex astronomical problems which probably affect the lives of Indians today also. 

It is not a murder mystery - there are no bodies dropping at regular intervals. Nevertheless, there is intrigue, suspense, secrecy, and similar ingredients in ample measure to keep the reader happy. At the beginning itself, the book itemizes the three major ideas it deals with - the visit of Hiuen Tsang during the reign of the great Indian emperor, Harshavardhana; the development of tantric Buddhism; and the suppression of mathematical calculations showing the inaccuracy of South Asian calenders. "Festival dates are now offset by almost a month."

The story of Khona, a woman astronomer in ancient India, has been nicely told in a way that I was able to identify with - having heard her name since childhood but not really knowing much about her. It is entirely plausible that she had been a victim of male egoism and her discoveries were not made public.

The writing style is simple and a continuous flow is maintained throughout the book. However, a lot of questions remain unanswered at the end. Maybe this was the author's intention, to allow the readers free use of their imagination to fill in the blanks. However, it does leave one with a mild feeling of discontent at the end of the story. A book that is definitely worth reading once.

Book review - Death of a Valentine by M. C. Beaton

Death of a Valentine is the 26th out of 27 books in the Hamish Macbeth Murder Mystery series by M. C. Beaton. The mysteries are set in and around the quiet village of Lochdubh in the Scotland countryside. The village policeman, Hamish Macbeth, who has a laid-back attitude to life in general, prefers to solve all murders and in general maintain peace and quiet within his beat without attracting a lot of attention to himself. He does his best to avoid any subsequent accolades or promotions as a result of his successes.

The book is written in a simple style without unnecessary turns of phrase. The mystery is a straightforward one with too many suspects so that both Hamish and the reader feel lost. However, as usual the mystery is successfully brought to a proper conclusion at the end without Hamish's bosses getting to know that he is the one to have solved the case.

There is a side-story going on all through the book which does make it a bit irritating. It deals with Hamish's junior, a new female constable, Josie, who seems to be less of a police officer and more of a matchmaker - obsessed about marrying Hamish and her future life with him. Her antics seem unbelievable at times, making up schemes which no sane woman trained to be a police officer would probably be capable of. She runs away from the job too much just like at one point she runs away while the macho Hamish rescues a lion that had escaped into the countryside.

Its a good book if you want something to finish in a day or more likely, in a couple of hours. There are a number of characters which are a continuation from the previous books in the series, but it is easy to follow them. It is less easy to follow the suspects in the investigation. Go ahead and read it, specially if you like cozy mysteries.

Book Review - The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

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.