Inspector Singh Investigates: A Curious Indian Cadaver: Number 5 in series

Taking a brief rest from this series -- I inhaled the first five books -- it seemed a proper time to express my gratitude to Shamini Flint for writing such good books. The next two are already on my to-be-read shelf.Comment: Ms. Flint's genius is not that of Mrs. Christie. The mystery is easily solvable by anyone reading with attention -- er, come to think of it, Miss Agatha also strew the clues around with a liberal hand.The pleasure is in Ms. Flint's descriptions of character and place. I may be the only reader who loves Mrs. Singh: Archie Bunker in a sari. She reminds me of my cousin. The inspector is a late lamented friend of mine down to a T -- well, not T as in turban.As to this particular book, Mumbai as a literary landscape is now familiar to me through the fabulous Vaseem Khan. OK, I'm shallow, I like happy not sad. Ms. Flint explores questions of class, gender, color and religious sectarianism in a light and educational way, not in a somber and ponderous manner.We have already visited Malaysia, Bali, Singapore, Cambodia, Mumbai. Next stops: China and England. My bags are packed.

I really enjoyed reading this book! While on medical leave, Singh is restless and bored. Mrs. Singh decides that she and the Police Inspector need to attend a family wedding in Mumbai. Singh wants to luxuriate himself at the many-star hotel (Taj Mahal Palace) but ends up being recruited to investigate the bride-to-be's death. There are many things I liked about this book. I appreciated that she did a prologue to give the reader a background. The bride's family members were all interesting characters especially the patriarch, Tara Singh who is a chemical industrialist. The story was suspenseful, so it gave me the desire to keep reading it to the end. I love how the author intertwined the Indian culture into the story (the choora ceremony, the cuisine, the matchmaking process). This installment also had more humorous moments than the previous one that I had read. In my opinion, this mystery was not predictable. I am so satisfied with this series that I will definitely continue to read more installments!

I am pleasantly surprised by this book. Once I got past every man being referred to as Singh the book flowed. Good, kinda cozy, mystery. Will try another book in the series, if the price is right.

I've read all the Inspector Singh mysteries and will snap up the next one. They are well plotted and fun to read, plus I love the settings, and the characters are wonderful. I love Singh himself and Mrs. Singh, who surprises and delights with the occasional soft spot and self-doubt, which she quickly covers up.I want to say that this episode, set in India, is the best, but really, they are all good. Flint goes one better than most detective series in creating the sidekick character--and she comes up with a different one in each book. They are all great--not a dud among them!Also, for me she strikes the perfect balance between serious murder mystery and the touch of humor; between exotic setting and universal human drama; and between intriguing plot and memorable characters. One of the best series I've found in a long time.

Living in Mumbai I enjoyed this book. The background of contemporary India is interesting, but quite stereotypical at times. Does it smell that much out of Mumbai airport? Are the taxi touts so aggressive? I doubt it, unless maybe you live in orderly Singapore. The plot is as one would expect from Flint: full of surprises. I read it over a long week-end in Gujarat and couldn't wait to finish it.I recommend it - just don't believe everything she says about India. Mumbai is a great place to be - provided you don't live in the slums, granted.

Flint crashes into India with Inspector Singh solving another environmentally associated murder this time involving corporate malfeasance and terrorism. India is a country divided by religion, status, and institutionalized corruption in every sector including the police.The premise rings plausible but the denouement clangs not likely. Thankfully Singh is portrayed less a bumbling comedic caricature but the notion he found the one Indian police officer willing to risk career and livelihood investigating this crime let alone being able to resolve it is in the realm of fantasy. Plus intermarriage between Sikh and Moslem most unlikely.India is a complex country that cannot be portrayed simplistically.

Inspector Singh and his wife have some interesting dialogue in this book that is set in their home country of India, where they have not lived for some time. The circumstances that develop around Mrs. Singh's family wedding are basically unbelievable. The book had some interesting cultural observations, but the voices in the beginning were difficult to follow, at least in the Kindle edition. This was my first Inspector Singh novel, and might be my last. I like mysteries, but enjoy drama more. There wasn't much that was very compelling to me about this story.

Received this book very rapidly--from the UK no less! Loved the anecdotes and portrayal of India. And the language containing idiosyncracies from Hindi is wonderful. Excellent, amusing book and great service from handler. The kinship terminology is beautifully portrayed, with great sense of humor. Anyone with Indian relatives (or who simply wants to learn about India) should read this book. Warning: many "inside jokes". such as the "ghost of Diwalis past" wandering through the room...AG

I came upon this series while looking for a change of genre. I was attracted by the locations of the crimes having visited most of them. Inspector Singh is a well drawn character and as the series develops you get to know more about his relationships with others. This was an interesting crime against a background of Indian culture which informs as well as entertains. I like the fact that murders happen without the gory details. Think Agatha Christie with the body count rising, the potential perpetrators and motives paraded for you to solve with some humour and interesting locations and that’s what you get. I’m a big fan!

Poor Inspector Singh. Recovering from his blast injuries in Cambodia and the horrors surrounding the investigation of the death of a witness whilst he was there; you'd think that a nice restful family (albeit distant family) wedding would be just the relaxation that he would find beneficial. When all the poor man wants is a bit of peace and quiet - preferably a million miles away from his wife and her scheming relatives, Singh gets dragged into looking into the disappearance of the bride to be. Sikh nationalism, terror plots, industrial skulduggery and a dysfunctional family form part of the wider story as Singh tries to find out what happened to the bride, whilst understanding how the past affects the present day. Well plotted, and although there's a time when you realize what part of the solution is going to be, there's still enough of the plot to be uncovered to make for an interesting ending. This has been a gem of a series and I hope that after China (book 6) there are other travels for Inspector Singh as his bosses keep up the policy of shipping him out to foreign climes in the hope he'll screw up.

Fifth installment of the series about Inspector Singh of the Singapore police, forever being shipped off elsewhere to get him out of his superiors' hair. This time he's on compulsory sick leave, and thus can't claim pressure of work to avoid being dragged by Mrs Singh to a family wedding in India. But the Singhs arrive only to find that the bride-to-be has disappeared. The last thing her immediate family want is the police involved, because of the social stigma -- the obvious motive for the young woman's disappearance is to avoid an arranged marriage. For the family patriarch, worried about his granddaughter's welfare as well as her reputation, an investigation by a family member who just happens to be a member of another country's police force is a much more appealing prospect.Then a corpse turns up, and the local police are involved whether the family likes it or not. But Singh keeps digging, and finds a tangle of motives that he's not willing to ignore.Once again Flint has blended a police procedural with a sensitive look at the ramifications of a real life tragedy. This book is deeply rooted in Sikh culture, and that includes the ongoing after-effects of the 1984 riots and massacre in India. But the latter does not overwhelm the book -- it is only one strand in a complex story about a complex society. A particular feature of the book is that it is quite openly an outsider's view of India, complete with an outsider's prejudices and reactions -- but the outsider here is not a white European, but a member of the Indian diaspora of Singapore. Singh finds India at once both alien and familiar, and this colours his reaction to the things he encounters during his investigation.Singh is a joy of a character to read about, and Flint has created yet another fascinating twist to her series hook of a police inspector who frequently ends up investigating murder well outside his official jurisdiction. The Singaporean Sikh is a marvellous addition to the ranks of maverick detectives in mystery fiction, and I'm very much hoping that there will be a sixth book in the series.

Shamini Flint does not appear that well known in the UK, which is a shame as her Inspector Singh novels are excellent whodunnits set in a variety of colourful environments and often with a topical theme underying the main plot. Very enjoyable.

Great book