The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken
Tarquin Hall Audio Book

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken / Tarquin Hall

“…While sometimes straying toward borderline cuteness, Vish still endears himself to the most hardened reader in his third outing (after The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing). His mother's search for answers to her own lost history adds depth. The series is a natural for Michael Stanley's "Detective Kubu" fans.” ~ Library Journal

“Hall, a British writer and journalist based in Delhi, has a gift for conveying the rich stew of competing cultures in contemporary India with a wonderful economy of image… Hall’s descriptions of the food Puri craves provide a great way of serving up the rich heritage of India. And this is a food-centered book—butter chicken, served to the father of a Pakistani member of the Indian cricket team at a celebratory banquet, is the murder weapon. Puri’s investigation takes him deep into the worlds of Indian and Pakistani organized crime, and into Pakistan itself, where many members of Puri’s family were killed during the 1947 partition of India. Hall presents a complex hero in a complex country with a great deal of history, humor, and panache.” STARRED REVIEW ~Booklist (Connie Fletcher) 

“If you’re a sucker for sub-continent accents, and which of us is not, you will adore this goofy but artful detective story in which Delhi’s Most Private Investigator Vish Puri takes on overlapping cases, one involving a poisoning and the other the theft of prize-winning mustaches. It wouldn’t be so much fun if Tarquin Hall hadn’t folded in a good deal of fascinating sociology about Indian family structure, scars left from the 1947 India-Pakistan partition, and the national cricket mania, but he has, with wit and skill. You’ll revel in the exotic flavors and scenes Sam Dastor makes vivid, but his extraordinary character voicings take the prize. He can even do the twang of an Indian who has lived too long in America. Really delightful.” ~AudioFile (B.G.)