The Case of the Love Commandos

Starred review from August 5, 2013
In Hall’s thought-provoking and charming fourth mystery featuring PI Vish Puri (after 2012’s The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken), a young Delhi couple’s plan to marry runs afoul of the bride’s powerful father, who objects to his future son-in-law’s low caste. The Love Commandos of the title, a group of volunteers who help couples divided by caste, intervene. The festering rot caused by India’s caste system permeates every page, as do the corruption of officials and the systemic abuse of the Dalits, the former Untouchable caste. In addition, a pickpocket with a nagging wife attracts the attention of Mummy-ji, Puri’s mother and unwelcome co-investigator. This series has dealt with progressively more serious topics, but Hall, the author of Salaam Brick Lane and two other works of nonfiction, hasn’t lost his light touch. The recipes at the end are a bonus. Agent: Christy Fletcher, Fletcher & Co.

October 1, 2013

Vish Puri becomes embroiled in a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story set in India. As she is wont to do, his mother helps investigates in her own inimitable style. Do try Hall's fourth entry (after The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken) in his charming and gently humorous series.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2013
Vish Puri of Delhi, head of Most Private Investigators, Ltd., is regarded by many (and himself) as the best private eye in India. Puri's closed cases for the month of June include delivering an enormous ransom and recovering a pampered pug from its kidnappers, as well as helping a celebrity chef with a hacked computer. The chef responds by treating Puri to a spirit-transforming plate of papri chaat and tamarind chutney. Puri's love of foodand Hall's descriptions of the dishes he enjoysis one of the delights of this series. From pampered pugs to hacked computers, Puri is plunged into a much more serious investigation at the behest of one of his operatives, a member of a real group called the Love Commandos, dedicated to helping mixed-caste couples. The Love Commandos have engineered the rescue of a young woman of the high-caste Thakur family from an arranged marriage. The young woman wants to marry an untouchable Dalit boy. The young man goes missing. Puri and his operatives infiltrate the Dalit boy's home in a tiny Indian village, so traditional that schoolchildren automatically arrange themselves according to caste. As in any Puri novel, a great deal of humor about Puri's family life is mixed with skillful plotting and realistic descriptions of contemporary India's overflowing street life. Hall, a British journalist who has lived in South Asia for more than a decade, is also the author of the memoir Salaam Brick Lane.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)