THE CASE OF THE MISSING SERVANT: TARQUIN HALL

I first heard about this series on NPR; they talked how this book immerses the reader in the sights, sounds, culture, both ancient and modern, in India, a country I spent three weeks back packing through in 1975 and loved it.  The main character in the novels is Vish Puri (Chubby to his friends), managing director of Most Private Investigations Ltd.  With the help of various underlyings with names like  Tubelight, Flush, Facecreme, and his driver, Handbrake.  This gives you some idea of his crew, the light and humorous touch of Hall.

The atmosphere, the world of Vish, is why you read this book, not necessarily the crimes.  The detective work of Vish and his crew is more fun than disturbing, nothing like a Henning Mankell or Joe Nesbo novel.  There's always a light touch to this detective fiction.  In this case, a young servant girl is missing and supposedly murdered by her employer, a wealthy lawyer who seeks the services of Vish Puri because both the police and judicial system are so corrupt, so open to bribery, that a defendant cannot depend on them, on their honesty.  Along with this case, Vish must track the fiancee of a General's daughter, and find some  dirt to allow the General to call off the wedding.  And finally, there is an attempt on Vish's life, which he blatantly disregards but not his Mummy, who pursues the leads, eventually finds out it's a builder who wants to Vish's property to build a condo. She goes to a Vish's childhood friend, now kind of a Godfather in India, who promises to take care of the problem which he does.  We don't find out how he takes care of it, only that Vish is now safe, thanks to Mummy.

Vish finally solves the case, by finding the missing woman in her village, having fled the house after trying to kill herself because she had become pregnant by the lawyer's son.  Vish presents her to the judge at the trial, the case is thrown out, the lawyer is set free and Vish is once again a hero, having solved the murder mystery.  A fun read more than serious detective novel.  I would read the next novel if I can find it as it's not easy to find.