Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2012
352 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Dubbed "a wonderfully engaging P.I." (The Times, London), Tarquin Hall's irresistible protagonist Vish Puri has become an international favorite through a series that "splendidly evokes the color and bustle of Delhi and the tang of contemporary India" (Seattle Times). Now the gormandizing, spectacularly mustachioed sleuth finds himself facing down his greatest fears in an explosive case involving the Indian and Pakistani mafias.
When the elderly father of a top Pakistani cricketer playing in a new multimillion-dollar cricket league dies frothing at the mouth during a post-match dinner, it's not a simple case of Delhi Belly. His butter chicken has been poisoned. To solve the case, Puri must penetrate the region's organized crime, following a trail that leads deep into Pakistan - the country in which many members of the P.I.'s family were massacred during the 1947 partition of India. The last piece of the puzzle, however, turns up closer to home when Puri learns of the one person who can identify the killer. Unfortunately it is the one person in the world with whom he has sworn never to work: his Mummy-ji.
With riotously entertaining prose, a boisterous cast of characters, and a pitch-perfect sense of place, Tarquin Hall has crafted a gripping whodunit that takes us deep into Indian history and society. He brings a hugely appealing culture to life with all its sights, sounds, smells, foods, and complexity. As the title implies, The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken is a succulent read by a writer at the top of his game.
"Starred Review. Well-drawn colorful characters bolster a whodunit sure to appeal to those who enjoy a dash of humor with their crime." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. A thoroughly engaging series... Hall has a gift for conveying the rich stew of competing cultures in contemporary India with a wonderful economy of image... Hall presents a complex hero in a complex country with a great deal of history, humor, and panache." - Booklist
"India, captured in all its pungent, vivid glory, fascinates almost as much as the crime itself." - Entertainment Weekly
"Hall writes amusing mysteries... [his] affectionate humor is embedded with barbs." - The New York Times Book Review
"Splendid... Entertaining... Vish Puri is large, constantly hungry, a perpetual victim of Delhi's traffic congestion, and a wonderfully engaging PI... A joy to read." - The Times (UK)
"Hall takes the reader into a very Indian, very Delhi web of spirituality, sin, slums, and power broking, but all treated with a veneer of wit and intelligent absurdity." - India Today
"Modern India, in all its colorful squalor, provides a vivid backdrop for this well-crafted whodunit." - Buffalo News
This information about The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tarquin Hall is a British journalist and writer based in London and Delhi. In addition to his Vish Puri mysteries he has also written three works of non-fiction, Mercenaries, Missionaries & Misfits, To the Elephant Graveyard and Salaam Brick Lane.
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