Two books different in location and structure but equally enjoyable, and each promising more to come in the series
Two books different in location and structure but equally enjoyable, and each promising more to come in the series
The Case of the Missing Servant
by Tarquin Hall, published by Random House India
Price: Rs 450
A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder
by Shamini Flint, published by u00a0Hachette
Price: Rs 295
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THE whole point of a detective story is the pleasure of its suspense. Hardcore readers will shun even the blurb until they've come to the end and rise, content, with that oh-so-THAT'S-who-it-was sensation comfortably pervading their senses.
So let me not say what these two books are about, and instead just compare certain of their features.
Both have Indian heroes portly, dark-skinned and doubtless with thick regional accents. But like all good fictional detectives, each has additional peculiar characteristics and despite a rough exterior are genuine, capable and well-meaning, making them irresistible to us.
Vish Puri is Punjabi. This means he is round of body, loves to eat, and continues to do so despite the despairing entreaties of doctor and wife; that he enjoys boasting about his achievements; and has nicknames for all his dear ones (Facecream and Handbrake are his associates, and his wife is Rumpi).
Inspector Singh's most endearing feature is that he doesn't know how to deal with children. He is completely no-nonsense, and the kind of person who, when an angry businessman threatened, "I'll have your badge for this!" retorted with a happy grin, "There's a long queue for that too!"
Singh has been sent from Singapore to help in a case in Malaysia, where his sister lives. They are old-world Indians so the right of family to come and stay indefinitely, whatever the inconvenience and expense, is hardwired into their brains.
Both books have a strong sociological bent, and give us a glimpse into different cultures.
Shamini Flint was born in Malaysia and lives in Singapore; here she shows us the relationship between the two countries, the Malaysian government's earnest striving to make it a truly multi-racial paradise against the very real conflicts people face, and the environmental depredation by big business in Borneo.
Tarquin Hall is English but his wife is of Indian origin and he has lived in Delhi for more than a decade. So unlike HRF Keating who got some bits right but made up unlikely names, he describes many different social layers brilliantly. And the India-is-great chest thumpers will just LOVE that Vish Puri dismisses Sherlock Holmes as an upstart, claiming he stole many of his methods from an Indian named Chanakya.
The characters use Indian English, but not consistently. I e-mailed Tarquin Hall, complaining about this, and he explained that "the book is for a non-Indian audience so I didn't want to make it too dense, just give a feel for how people cut back and forth between languages." That still didn't explain why words like batchmateu00a0 and incharge are in italics but not kundan, and why, when "chaddi" got into the OED years ago, we're still saying chuddies here and italicising it.
Shamini Flint, in contrast, is a narrator who unabashedly uses her own voice, and a measured, almost formal voice it is, with pointed adjectives and carefully-structured sentences.
The Case of the Missing Servant is more on the lines of Alexander Mc Call Smith's ladies detective series (Tarquin Hall clarified, when I asked, that he had not read any before writing the book; his agent had recommended it after) and has a number of cases, parallel or interwoven. Inspector Singh is more of your Orient-Express type murder mystery with one biggie and many suspects. Both depend, like all good detective stories, on a combination of skill and coincidence. Both are great fun.
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