Who could resist “Jack Reacher in a dupatta”?
An aunty with keen observational skills uses her many talents to investigate a murder and save her family’s reputation.
Kausar Khan, still healing from her husband’s death a year ago, gets a call no mother wants to receive—her daughter is the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Though Kausar hasn’t been as close with 36-year-old Sana since moving to North Bay, Ontario, after a tragic incident compelled her to leave Toronto, she knows Sana couldn’t have murdered Imran Thakur, the landlord of her desi clothing store, and heads home to help. When Kausar arrives, she learns just how much she’s missed during her time away—one of her two granddaughters is wary of her Nani’s presence; Sana’s relationship with her husband, Hamza, appears volatile; and Sana seems to trust Kausar only for domestic help. With the support of May, her best friend and fellow Agatha Christie and Louise Penny lover, Kausar is determined to prove her worth. Relying on her ability to fly under the radar, she sets out to the Golden Crescent Plaza to find out what really happened between Imran and Sana that night. One woman Kausar questions says it best: “The goras, they think us quite harmless, don’t they? What can a desi aunty accomplish, after all?” Kausar’s ability to pull secrets out of members of her community, along with her unwavering attention to detail, has her flirting with the truth before long. Novelist Jalaluddin’s first mystery is beyond satisfying, from Sherlock-style deductive reasoning to Christie-esque dinner parties, but infused with the flavors of samosa, biryani, and raita. Most tantalizing of all is Kausar herself, a proud South Asian Muslim woman defining her second act, a woman unafraid of turning her observational skills on herself, revealing deep pain and the personal flaws that stem from it. Put on a fresh pot of chai, because Kausar Aunty is just getting started.
Who could resist “Jack Reacher in a dupatta”?Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063434875
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harper Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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