Search Cliffhangers
Search Cliffhangers
liffhangers Crime Fiction
C
Cliffhangers Crime Fiction
Books and videos for  mystery mavens
Books and videos for mystery  mavens
Recommendations
Links
Tarquin Hall,
Author of Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator Mystery Books,
Cozy Series Set in India
British Expat Finds the Funny in Delhi, India
Tarquin Hall published the first novel in the Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator Mystery Books in 2009.  (Hall also has a distinguished career as a journalist and non-fiction writer.)

Hall, who is British, has lived outside of the United Kingdom for most of his adult life, including stints in the United States, Pakistan, India, Turkey and Kenya. He has also done some serious traveling in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

Hall explains why he chose to set his first mystery series in India: "After visiting India in 2006 and 2007, I was hard pressed to relate to friends and family the cacophony of sights, sounds and smells that constantly assailed my Western sensibilities. How much easier it would have been to have handed inquirers a copy of a Vish Puri book rather than attempting to explain the warp and weft of Indian life through my own biased eyes--and they would have enjoyed an entertaining tale as well."*

He decided to make his hero a detective (rather than, oh, a journalist) because he did a story for the Sunday Times (UK) on Delhi detectives and was fascinated by their stories.**

And modern Delhi has no shortage of themes to inspire the novelist: "When I first lived in Delhi in the mid-90s it was quite small--I think around five million people. And it was actually pretty sleepy. There wasn’t much to do in the evenings apart from eat tandoori chicken. It took a year or so to get a phone installed in your home. And then, bang, so-called ‘liberalization’ took place, the ‘opening up’ of the economy, and now the National Capital Region is home to something like 18 million people. Rural India is being emptied with everyone of working age pouring into the cities and big towns. Delhi is one huge construction site and lots of people have become very, very rich overnight. But then of course, in a lot of fundamental ways, India and Delhi haven’t changed at all. There’s still terrible poverty. 70 per cent of the population live on less than two dollars a day. It’s also an extremely hierarchical culture--like no other, really. And so the vast majority of the population are either struggling or really, really struggling. This summer most of the capital has been without running water and there have been constant power cuts. Inflation’s running at almost 10 per cent and the average person is having to cut back on milk for their kids. But worse, the rule of law is very flimsy and the police are utterly corrupt. So people are very vulnerable and there’s a lot of crime. So that’s obviously where Vish Puri comes in" **

Now Hall lives in Delhi, India with his wife and two children.

Awards
The Case of the Missing Servant (Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator Mystery Books #1)
New York Times Notable Crime Book

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* http://litstack.com/featured-author-review-the-case-of-the-missing-servant-by-tarquin-hall/
**http://www.sirensofsuspense.com/Sirens_of_Suspense/Pro-Files/Entries/2012/7/11_Tarquin_Hall__Death,_with_a_Side_of_Chutney.html
 Author  Tarquin Hall
Above: Author  Tarquin Hall


Tarquin's Crime Series

Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator Mystery Books
Browse  Authors
Browse  Authors
Indexes
Cliffhangers' Favorites