This is a great book of short stories, perfect for dipping into. Set in India, it has the challenges of a culture with which readers might not be familiar, but the protagonists are well defined and each story has a strong plot, so the cultural differences add an extra dimension from, say, those cosy mysteries set in an English village. My only word of warning is that the theme of rape occurs more than once, which some readers might find too much of a challenge - I don't know if this is representative of the setting but it does take the book beyond the realms of 'cosy'. Well written and thoughtfully portrayed. I shall look out for more David Joseph chronicles.