The Case of the Man who Died Laughing

Oct 31, 2024 11:34 AM

Author:Tarquin Hall

Early one morning, on the lawns of a grand boulevard in central Delhi, a group of professionals are attending their therapeutic Laughing Club when a 20-foot apparition of the Goddess Kali apppears, and strikes one of their number dead.

The goddess disappears without trace, and soon news of the crime has all India agog. For the victim is celebrated sceptic and rationalist Dr Suresh Jha, enemy of all gurus and mystics, and he has been silenced in a manner calculated to unnerve even his most loyal supporters.

As the media go into a frenzy, it becomes clear that the case goes to the heart of the battle between superstition and rationality in modern India. But the fact remains that a murder has been committed. And as it becomes clear that powerful forces are at play, one man is perfectly placed to investigate: the portly detective Vish Puri.

In fact, the idea that he could resist getting involved in such a tantalizing murder is preposterous. There is as much chance of him going without his lunch.

Reviews

So brilliantly does Tarquin hall capture the sights, smells, sounds and foibles of modern India, not to mention the nuances of English-Indian speech, that it is hard to believe he is not himself Indian. He also serves up fabulous descriptions of the Indian cuisine much favoured by Puri, a sort of Indian Poirot whose lunch will always come before his crime-solving.

—— Daily Mail

The novel is an entertaining yarn about the apparent murder of a well-known religious sceptic by an apparition of the Goddess Kali and a ripe comedy of Indian manners, brimming with well-observed detail.

—— Mail on Sunday

Vish Puri - "Most Private Investigator", according to his card - is large, constantly hungry, a perpetual victim of Delhi's traffic congestion, and a wonderfully engaging PI . . . the characters - including Puri's complicated family - are splendid, and it's a joy to read

—— The Times

A funny, entertaining novel [with a] wonderfully engaging Private Investigator . . the characters - including Vish Puri's complicated family - are splendid, and it's a joy to read.

—— Marcel Berlins , The Times

Sweet-natured and hilarious

—— Financial Tiimes Summer Reads

Popular fiction at its best

—— The Washington Post

Only one's dreams after a champagne-fuelled night at the Follies Bergere have quite the same nightmarish-but-entertaining quality as Vargas's delightful crime novels

—— Jake Kerridge , Daily Telegraph

Gripping

—— Guardian

[Vargas is] one of the most exciting, addictive and inventive purveyor of classy crime fiction currently pounding the publishing beat... It it a highly entertaining policier but more importantly, as with Conan Doyle, the wacky world Vargas shapes is oddly reassuring: a great remedy to a grey day

—— Christian House , Indepedent on Sunday

A thrilling read

—— Sunday Times

A beguiling story

—— Independent on Sunday

A sinister, beguiling tale that brilliantly evokes a childhood world

—— Woman and Home

Brilliant and nightmarish, this modern fairytale is beautifully written

—— Eve Magazine

Phantom will maintain Jo Nesbo’s unstoppable momentum.

—— The Independent

The king of Nordic crime – and his haunted protagonist Harry Hole – returns with this tightly plotted thriller which pitches Hole deep into the murky underworld of Oslo’s heroin market.

—— Metro

Jo Nesbo is at the top of his game... The must-read thriller of 2012.

—— Bella

Phantom leaves us reeling, with a storyline and ending that hurts us almost as much as it hurts the protagonists... The twists and turns show Nesbo at his complicated, yet utterly accessible best, and Hole at his undeniably brilliant but self-destructive worst.

—— The List

Jo Nesbo is a master of his craft. His latest novel, Phantom, is world-class crime writing. Phantom is a crime novel that pleases on every level.

—— Dagbladet (Norway)

Harry Hole is back only to find that the case he wants to investigate is already closed

—— Observer

Jo Nesbo has done it again with Phantom, his seventh gripping novel featuring Inspector Harry Hole... Tense and compulsive Phantom will have you jumping out of your seat

—— Hannah Britt , Daily Express

King of Scandinavian crime... A writer at the top of his game

—— Deirdre O’Brien , Sunday Mirror

Riveting reading from page one

—— My Weekly

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