The most original detective in years. Picture Hercule Poirot with an Indian accent, eating chili pakoras and riding in an auto rickshaw. Tarquin Hall has captured India in a way few Western writers have managed since Kipling. India's humor, commotion and vibrancy bursts from every page, exposing its vast, labyrinthine underbelly. Scintillating!

A brilliantly written humorous tale that vividly captures the sounds, smells and foibles of modern India

Lively and quick-paced ... What Cara Black does for Paris, Hall achieves for India

Tubby, ingenious and hilarious, Delhi's most trusted PI, Vish Puri, is not easily forgotten. Properly disdainful of unoriginal crime-busters like Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, his unique methods of detection deserve to be widely known and feted.

An amusing, timely whodunit... Hall has woven an impressive knowledge of India into a tautly constructed novel that is a highly readable introduction to the country for newcomers

If Mma Ramotswe is an African Marple, Puri is an Indian Poirot: an opinionated Punjabi with an ego as great as his girth and a passion for British tailoring, malt whisky and fiery chillies... Hall combines an insider's insight with the eclectic eye of a good foreign correspondent

Readers may detect a calculated attempt to charm them, and are advised to yield quickly

Pour yourself a cup of tea and pull up a comfy chair. This is one of those novels that uses the "new" India as a kind of Ealing comedy backdrop... Great fun - a seething slice of the sub-continent

A suspenseful girpping plot, a heavy air of mystery and lots of action woven together with thriller moments... A must read

Hall has a fine grasp of the nuances of north Indian life and lingo, as well as an in-depth knowledge in a wide range of subjects... I look forward eagerly to the next Vish Puri book

This is history as it ought to have been.

Against the well-researched background of intrigue and rebellion we are plunged into the uncertain 12th century, in this accomplished and engrossing historical mystery.

The deserved winner of this year's Ellis Peters Historical Dagger is a cunningly plotted tale set in medieval Cambridge. A serial killer is at large, and the Jews are blamed. Henry I offers protection because he needs the money. He sends a medical examiner - a master of the art of death - to find the killer. Great stuff

Gruesome and compelling

Norwegian star Jo Nesbo has obliterated most of his Scandinavian rivals in the bestseller stakes, with The Leopard published in paperback this week... The uncrowned king of Norwegian crime fiction is Jo Nesbo. Books such as The Redbreast (2000) and his imposing novel The Snowman have propelled Nesbo to the heights. Apart from its narrative finesse, his work also provides a coolly objective guide to fluctuations in Norwegian society. There is also a universal feeling that his work is more strikingly individual than that of most of his Scandinavian colleagues... Harry is a lone wolf, a chronic alcoholic separated from his wife and child but in touch with the zeitgeist of his country. And Nesbo gives us a sharp picture of Norwegian society in flux, crammed with relevant detail - as you might expect from an ex-freelance journalist, particularly where the role of the media is described

Nesbo has a skill for dispatching his victims with increasing inventiveness, and he barely lets you draw breath before delivering a virtuoso torture and death scene in the opening chapter

The plot is intriguing, and Nesbo's writing is as taught as ever

It's fascinating to discover, from the incident details, what it is like to live for much of the time in a world under snow... Nesbo writes beautifully

There are passages [which are] so anatomically gruesome...that they can only be properly read through the gaps between protecting fingers

Norwegian star Jo Nesbo has obliterated most of his Scandinavian rivals in the bestseller stakes, with The Leopard published in paperback this week...The uncrowned king of Norwegian crime fiction is Jo Nesbo. Books such as The Redbreast (2000) and his imposing novel The Snowman have propelled Nesbo to the heights. Apart from its narrative finesse, his work also provides a coolly objective guide to fluctuations in Norwegian society. There is also a universal feeling that his work is more strikingly individual than that of most of his Scandinavian colleagues...Harry is a lone wolf, a chronic alcoholic separated from his wife and child but in touch with the zeitgeist of his country. And Nesbo gives us a sharp picture of Norwegian society in flux, crammed with relevant detail - as you might expect from an ex - freelance journalist, particularly where the role of the media is described