The Man Who Died Laughing by Tarquin Hall ****

Do you like the #1 Ladies Detective Agency? The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing by Tarquin Hall has India's Most Private Investigator. The former has Mma Precious Ramotswe from Botswana, while the latter has Vish Puri from India. After that they are a similar mix of local color, family, and strange crimes.

I read this book for two reasons. First, I am planning to visit India and wanted to the local color. Second, I am a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith (author of #1 Ladies Detective Agency) and appreciate light detective/mystery fiction.

Readers interested in a pleasant journey to India with some light mystery will not be disappointed. However, I found these book less readable that the McCall Smith books. The rant at the end might explain some of this, but not all.

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on July 15, 2013. I received the book on July 27, 2013.

Rant alert: This book has glossary of unfamiliar terms. I despise the idea of a glossary in a work of fiction. First, it interrupts the flow of the narrative to stop and page the back of the book to find a word in the glossary. But worse it creates confusion as the the responsibility for readability. In a normal book, the writing is meant to be readable. The is often accomplished by defining foreign or obscure terms as they are used. However, in the case of the glossary, the responsibility is split leaving the reader confused and asking, "Am I supposed to understand this or has this been delegated to the glossary." In the worst case, the reader doesn't understand and interrupts the story to check the glossary and nothing is there. Here are a few examples of worse case words from this book.

Crore: 10 million. This used a lot and not included in the glossary, even though lakh (100 thousand) is included.

Delli Wallah: Also used a lot. It means someone from Dehli.

Peg: Ubiquitous. This is a generic alcoholic drink, maybe similar to shot.

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on July 15, 2013. I received the book on July 27, 2013.