The Case of the Elusive Bombay Duck

Portly, perceptive, and spectacularly moustachioed, India’s finest private detective, Vish Puri, tackles his most difficult case to date, in Tarquin Hall’s delightful humorous whodunit series set in New Delhi.

For Vish Puri, India’s most private detective, the news that he has won the long-coveted International Detective of the Year award, to be presented in a glitzy ceremony in London, makes this the best day of his life.

But to his deep dismay, a senior bureaucrat from the Ministry of Finance gives him a secret mission he can’t refuse: to track down India’s most-wanted fugitive. Dr. Bhatt’s medicines caused the deaths of hundreds, and the billionaire fraudster—code named the Bombay Duck—fled for the United Kingdom before he could be arrested.

Puri is only spending a week in London. He has never set foot in the UK before. And most important of all, he has already promised his wife that he won’t do any work while they’re away.

There’s only one solution: lie, lie, lie.

Puri dives headfirst into the case, in between visiting all the tourist sites, aided and abetted by his formidable, meddling Mummy-ji, whom Puri definitely did not invite to join them. But can Puri hook the Bombay Duck and bring him to justice before the fugitive’s many enemies get to him first?

Packed with the sights, sounds, and flavors of both New Delhi and London, this is an irresistible listen for fans of Alexander McCall Smith, Harini Nagendra, and Jesse Sutanto from an author who divides his time between India and the United Kingdom.

© 2025 Blackstone Publishing (Audiobook): 9781094081687

Release date

Audiobook: 4 March 2025