DETECTIVE AUNTY

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”?