THE TIMES OF INDIA: “Writer Tarquin Hall serves up a clever plot and wicked twist. He also…introduce[s] some fabulously funny characters, and the book is packed with ‘Only in India’ moments and scenarios.”

And this from the INDIAN EXPRESS:

“Vish Puri is an endearing hero, with his cheery malapropisms and fondness for sobriquets… The real star of the book, however, is Delhi which is inimitably observed and instantly recognisable—from its seething hot summer…to the pampered kiddies squealing down the water slides at Fun-N-Food Village, and the bicycle-borne broom-and-mop salesman who resembles ‘a kind of punk porcupine.’”

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“A terrific book with wonderful puzzle plot and a great setting.” GLOBE & MAIL

“Front and center in Tarquin Hall’s “The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing” (Simon & Schuster, 308 pp., $24) is Vish Puri, India’s Most Private Investigator: stately, plump, nattily dressed — and very sure of himself.

“In this, his delightful second case, Puri hunts whoever staged a wondrous deception: the apparently supernatural murder of a “Guru Buster” famed for exposing just such “occult” tricks. Hall, a British journalist who lives part-time in India, splendidly evokes the color and bustle of Delhi streets and the tang of contemporary India’s charmingly old-fashioned use of the English language.”

“I don’t know about you, but mysteries that make me laugh go right into the book bag… Tarquin Hall writes amusing mysteries set in Delhi and featuring Vish Puri, the conscientious proprietor of Most Private Investigators Ltd., a firm specializing in “matrimonial investigations.” Meeting Puri again in THE CASE OF THE MAN WHO DIED LAUGHING (Simon & Schuster, $24), it’s reassuring to note that he isn’t at all fazed when the Hindu goddess Kali materializes at a Laughing Club held in a public park, smiting down Dr. Suresh Jha, a noted atheist and “Guru Buster.” Hall’s affectionate humor is embedded with barbs. Puri is sympathetic to Dr. Jha’s view that as long as “corruption ate at the heart of the political system” India would never cast off its feudal yoke. So even as this amiably fatalistic detective tries to explain the rules of bribery to a client (“Sir, in India the line between what is legal and what is not is often somewhat of a fuzz”), he feels honorbound to solve Dr. Jha’s murder.”

And this from Library Journal:

“On the very day he is predicted to die, Dr. Suresh Jha is struck down, in the midst of a knock-knock joke during the Rajpath Laughing Club meeting, by a towering apparition of the goddess Kali. Since the rationalist Jha was known as “the Guru Buster” and adversary of India’s powerful Mararaj Swami, the “supernatural occurence” of his death makes news and intrigues Delhi detective Puri, who sends one of his many operatives to infiltrate Swami’s ashram in a well-orchestrated ploy that turns deadly dangerous. But Puri’s home life is also never simple: his daughter has just returned home awaiting the birth of twins, and his wife, Rumpi, and irrepressible widowed mother, Mummy-ji, take off on their own to solve an armed robbery at their kitty club. Verdict Puri’s intuitive powers are even more evident in the second in Hall’s entertaining series (after The Case of the Missing Servant). The detective despairs of his city’s worsening conditions and rails against American drivers as he copes with enervating heat and solves murders, while enjoying his native food despite the excess pounds that give him the nickname Chubby. With humor and grace, Hall provides appealing characters, a strong sense of place, a complex plot, and mouth-watering Indian cuisine.” —Michele Leber, Arlington, VA

The Amazon.com books editor has picked ‘The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing’ as one of their ‘Best Books of the Month’ for June. It’s going to get heavy promotion on their site!

Read Amazon’s review here and buy the hardback for 40% off.

The Pittsburgh Tribune has also listed the book in its list notable books for the summer.

June 22nd
Phoenix
7pm Talk, Q&A, and Signing
Poisoned Pen
4014 North Goldwater, Suite 101, Scottsdale, AZ 85251

June 23rd
San Francisco
7pm Talk, Q&A, and Signing
M is for Mystery
86 East Third Ave., San Mateo, Ca. 94401

June 24th
San Francisco
7pm
Talk, Q&A, and Signing
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA 94925

June 25th
LA
7pm Talk, Q&A, and Signing
Vroman’s
695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101

June 26th
LA
2pm Talk, Q&A, and Signing
Borders Books
6510 Canoga Ave, Canoga Park, CA 91303

June 29th
San Diego
7pm Talk, Q&A, and Signing
Mysterious Galaxy
7051 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, ste 302, San Diego, CA 92111

Tarquin will also be signing copies of my latest book “The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing” at Mysterious Bookshop in New York and Pages bookstore in Phoenix.

“This first novel, set in Delhi, introduces an Indian investigator who checks the background of prospective grooms. The results, often comic and surprising, illuminates problems of corruption and caste.”