THE CASE OF THE REINCARNATED CLIENT

India’s most private detective confronts the changing face of marriage in his native land.

Vish Puri (The Delhi Detective’s Handbook, 2017, etc.) tries to keep up with the times. His Most Private Investigators Ltd., uses the most up-to-date surveillance equipment. Puri himself carries the latest model cellphone. But modern as he is, he is truly vexed by his wife Rumpi’s news that his youngest daughter, Radhika, wants to make a love match—and with a Bengali, no less! Why can’t Radhika act more like his client Ram Bhatt’s daughter, Tulsi, who married Vikas Gupta, the groom chosen by her father after a careful investigation conducted by Puri himself confirmed him to be an A-1, top-notch prospect? And if Tulsi’s been driven from her husband’s house by his truly thunderous snores, well, Puri still stands by his investigation, although he now must find out how he could have missed such an undesirable trait. Meantime, Puri’s beloved Mummy-ji has another urgent task for him. She wants her son to reexamine the case of Riya Kaur, a young wife whose husband, Mantosh Singh, left her to die in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Mummy-ji has stumbled across Saanvi, a young girl who claims to be the reincarnated presence of Riya, and she shares chilling memories of the Sikh woman’s last hours. Can Puri, who wants nothing more than some crispy pakora and a ride in his beloved Ambassador sedan, juggle three such diverse cases and still get home in time for tea?

Hall deftly handles amusing characters and serious social issues.