Early one morning, on the lawns of a grand boulevard in central Delhi, a group of professionals are attending their therapeutic Laughing Club when a 20-foot apparition of the Goddess Kali appears, & strikes one of their number dead. The goddess disappears without trace, & soon news of the crime has all India agog. For the victim is celebrated sceptic & rationalist Dr Suresh Jha, enemy of all gurus & mystics, & he has been silenced in a manner calculated to unnerve even his most loyal supporters. As the media go into a frenzy, it becomes clear that the case goes to the heart of the battle between superstition & rationality in modern India. But the fact remains that a murder has been committed. & as it becomes clear that powerful forces are at play, one man is perfectly placed to investigate: the portly detective Vish Puri. In fact, the idea that he could resist getting involved in such a tantalizing murder is preposterous. There is as much chance of him going without his lunch.