Words of a Bibliophile

I got an advanced copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway, sent to me straight from India. This detective story is made deeper and more poignant than the run-of-the-mill crime fiction by its theme of caste relations and sociopolitics in India. However, it manages to maintain a humorous tone through its eccentric, food-loving main character, private investigator Vish Puri, who appears to be India's answer to Hercule Poirot. The mystery was quite intriguing and I couldn't guess the culprit easily, although I did think that the subplot with Puri's detective wannabe mother Mummy-ji was distracting and rather unnecessary. Rather than Puri or Mummy-ji, for me the most interesting character in the book is Puri's operative Facecream (he has other operatives with nicknames such as Doorstop, Handbrake and Tubelight), a smart and fearless woman with a kind heart.