The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery
Where to buy The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery books online?
Product Description
Meet Vish Puri, India’s most private investigator. Portly, persistent, and certainly Punjabi, he cuts a determined swath through modern India’s swindlers, cheats, and murderers.
In hot and dusty Delhi, where call centers and malls are changing the very ancient fabric of Indian life, Puri’s main work comes from screening prospective marriage partners, a job once the preserve of aunties and family tree priests.
But when an honest public litigator is accused of murdering his maidservant, it takes all of Puri’s resources to investigate. How will he trace the fate of the girl, known only as Mary, in a population of more than one billion? Who is taking potshots at him and his prize chili plants? And why is his widowed “Mummy-ji” attempting to play sleuth when everyone knows mummies are not detectives?
With his team of undercover operatives — Tubelight, Flush, and Facecream — Puri ingeniously combines modern techniques with principles of detection customary in India more than two thousand years ago — long before “that Johnny-come-lately” Sherlock Holmes donned his deerstalker.
The search for Mary takes him to the desert oasis of Jaipur and the remote mines of Jharkhand. From Puri’s well-heeled Gymkhana Club to the slums where the servant classes live, his adventures reveal modern India in all its seething complexity.
Buy Cheap The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery Online
Related posts:
I cannot judge there are so many five star reviews from Amazonians for Tarquin Hall’s `The Case of the Missing Servant’. I wanted so much to like this novel, but it turned out uneven and unengaging. It is just unadorned unsatisfying.
The premise was a excellent one: Follow a Delhi detective agency through several cases and learn about India and the people at ‘Most Private Investigations’. ‘The Case of the Missing Servant’ was a excellent platform from which to launch a whole series of Vish Puri Detective Tales. But, first-time leader Tarquin Hall doesn’t give us enough reasons to want to pine for future Vish Puri mysteries.
Hall contributes momentously to my tiny Indian vocabulary, especially words of Indian cuisine. But he doesn’t do a excellent job of describing the appearance, taste or texture what’s being savored. I can also thank/blame Hall for increasing my repertoire of Indian cuss words. Words I’d never in a million years hear uttered by my polite and refined Indian friends and coworkers.
Vish Puri is a foppish, clever and resourceful second-generation gumshoe who solves cases while munching fatty fried treats. I’d have loved it if Hall had fashioned Vish into a hard-boiled, two-fisted Philip Marlowe-type of detective. But… he didn’t.
While Hall paints Puri in colorful detail, additional characters are only faint sketches. Is Puri’s attractive female undercover operative Facecream tall, fleeting, pudgy or slim? Why is she is so excellent at extracting information? What techniques does she use? I don’t know because Hall just doesn’t bother providing any detd ails. Same goes for Puri’s additional detective helpers, Handgrip and Tubelight. The novel would have had greater substance if Hall had agreed some description and support to his supporting characters.
At times Hall describes Puri as clever, insightful and well-suited to his work. Then he describes Puri as superficial, vain and proud. Puri tries hard to balance these inconsistencies while dealing with clientele who already show small respect because of Puri’s low-caste, keyhole-peeping occupation.
I don’t ever throw in spoilers in my reviews. Except now. Hall fails horribly as a mystery writer when he reveals the murderer at the same moment we meet that character for the first time. Where’s the sport in a mystery if the Reader doesn’t have a shot at solving it himself?
If Hall had written a different tale in a different genre and made Puri a chef or tour guide, he would have produced a better product. I might take another chance on Vish Puri and Tarquin Hall if there is a second novel. But I’ll read the Amazon customer reviews first.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
While I appreciate the risks taken by this writer in writing in the voice of a character from another culture, this book did not work for me, primarily because there was too much emphasis on the foreignness of the characters and situations.
I felt that the writer told his tale from a distance. It felt as if the writer was on the outside looking in and the reader viewed the goings on from an even more distant place.
Though there was much use of native language and fantastic details agreed to the discussions of food and traditions, I never felt transported to India. I could not smell the food, hear the sounds or feel the heat. The wrtier spent a lot of time telling the reader about happenings, but was not successful in showing the reader the events as they unfolded.
The writer did try to educate the reader by including some cultural background, but this information would have worked better if it was more integrated into the tale rather open as a series of facts like a news tale.
I establish that most of the characters suffered from a lack of development. A woman was described as gorgeous and feisty. I want to have seen an actual description. How long was her hair? How did she wear it? What were the shape of her eyes? The color of her skin? Skin color, I know, is vital in India, especially as it relates to beauty. This would have been a excellent place to chat about that as well as give the reader insight into the charater.
The book just did not feel authentic to me. It suffers momentously in comparison to additional similar books currently in the market place.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I lived in India (Bangalore) for a summer, so I liked the cultural aspect of this book, which I thought was depicted exceptionally well. I also liked the detective tale and the characters were diverse and believable. Some additional reviewers said that Vish was made to look like a fool (which he probably was), but I thought that’s what added a sense of reality and life to his character.
I would give this book five stars if it weren’t for one thing… The glossary. I would not have minded at all if the definitions for the many Indian food items and additional terms were included either in footnotes, or maybe in parenthesis in-line with the text, but constantly flipping to the back of the book to consult the glossary was very irritating; especially at first. I nearly stopped reading the book because of it.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Meet Vish Puri, who is India’s most Private Investigator. Tarquin Hall is a welcome addition to mystery writers and introduces us to The Case of the Missing Servant which is the one of the best mysteries of 2009.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
An appealing start for a possible book series and I loved this inaugural effort very much. Vish Puri, the proprietor of Most Private Investigators Ltd., is a bit of a fop, fussy and pedantic, but in the end shows a keen intelligence and just as vital, a kind heart. The supporting cast of characters helps the book considerably because they are clearly delineated and appealing, especially the ace detective’s mother. I’m reasonably sure her role will increase with each installment.
I’ve only been to India once briefly, so I don’t know if middle class Indians really talk with a mish-mash of idioms and odd verb usage. If a reader thinks the leader is using stereotypes, “The Case of the Missing Servant” might not be appealing.
“…That is why substitute batsmen like myself are building excellent innings.”
“…Question the doctors and all. They must be knowing.”
I reflect that’s how most Americans reflect Indians speak English. Do they really? I don’t know. I still loved the book even though the junior high library take in and the title don’t help. Hopefully, they will be changed for the first printing.
Avid readers of “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” should try this book. After all, after you devour the latest Alexander McCall Smith installment, it’s a long wait for the next visit with Precious Ramotswe.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5