There is such a delight in discovering (admittedly well after everyone else) a fabulous new detective hero, and after reading “Bangkok Eight” I am a fan, a firm, verging-on-embarrassingly-enthusiastic fan of Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Sonchai Jitpleecheep is an unusual Bangkok cop. For one thing he is only half Thai. For another …
It was my son’s moving to Shanghai with his job that prompted my fearsomely well-read sister to recommend the Chief Inspector Chen mysteries, and having just concluded the third in the series, back to back, I am beyond hooked. And as soon as I have written my reviews, I …
The latest in the Vish Puri detective series, “The Case of the Love Commandos,” tackles head on issues which have been very much in the news here in India – namely inter-caste marriages and the lengths to which outraged parents will go to prevent such relationships, and impose their will …
Re-reading “The Perfect Murder” was every bit as delightful the 3rd time round, as it was the first. Yes, of course I knew whodunnit, but the writing and the scene setting and the use of language in the book are all so delicious that you read it as much for …
After a bout of reading good but rather heavy book club books, I felt like some mental time out. But, for no particular reason, I wanted Indian mental time out, and so it was with a feeling of great relaxation that I re-read H.R.F Keating’s “The Sheriff of Bombay.” I …
,”The Devotion of Suspect X,” the cult Japanese thriller by Keigo Higashino has at long last been translated into English. This story of murder and its consequences, set in modern-day suburban Tokyo, is (in the words of all good book reviews) a gripping page-turner. Seriously, however clichéd that description might …
The Mary Russell series of whodunnits – also featuring her husband, one older gentleman named Sherlock Holmes – is a joy to read. Fun, ever so slightly irreverent, and good mysteries in their own right, regardless of the high profile husband and his famous friends. This novel takes us to …
The second book in what one hopes will be a long series of Vish Puri detective novels, showcases the author’s love and obvious affection for India, especially Delhi, and his eye for the wildly off-beat. The man who died laughing really did. At the Laughing Club on Rajpath. And from …
India finally has her own Precious Ramotswe. Her own home-grown, uncomplicated, tell-it-as-it-is private detective. Punjabi by nature, by appetite and by his larger than life personality. Meet Vish Puri, resident of Gurgaon, chilli-grower, Sandown-cap-lover and solver of crimes in Delhi. Vish Puri is a clever, intuitive detective, of that there …
