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Detective Kaveri Mysteries #1
by Harini Nagendra
The first in a charming, joyful crime series set in 1920s Bangalore, featuring sari-wearing detective Kaveri and her husband Ramu. Perfect for fans of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
When clever, headstrong Kaveri moves to Bangalore to marry handsome young doctor Ramu, she's resigned herself to a quiet life.
But that all changes the night of the party at the Century Club, where she escapes to the garden for some peace and quiet—and instead spots an uninvited guest in the shadows. Half an hour later, the party turns into a murder scene.
When a vulnerable woman is connected to the crime, Kaveri becomes determined to save her and launches a private investigation to find the killer, tracing his steps from an illustrious brothel to an Englishman's mansion. She soon finds that sleuthing in a sari isn't as hard as it seems when you have a talent for mathematics, a head for logic, and a doctor for a husband...
And she's going to need them all as the case leads her deeper into a hotbed of danger, sedition, and intrigue in Bangalore's darkest alleyways.
What's your favorite book series?
I have quite a few favorite series, Below are a few top of mind. Many are historical mystery series —-these are not romance. Also, the sci-fi series tend to be positive versus dystopian, gloom and doom. Faha "series" / two books only (Niall Williams, literary fiction) Thursday Murder Club (Richar...
-Gabi_J
What are you reading this week? (7/17/2025)
Though the reading slump got me down, I kept picking up books from the library, and snagged a low price ebook to get "back on the (reading) horse." I picked three that are working well for me. I'd been meaning to read "The Lincoln Highway" (Towles) for some time. The audio version has several rea...
-Robin_G
"[A]n exceptional series launch...By placing her intelligent and clear-eyed protagonists in the multilayered and multicultural milieu of colonial India, Nagendra, a university professor in Bangalore, imbues this mystery with a rich, edifying, and authentic feel. She rounds out the volume with easy-to-follow recipes for dishes like spiced rice with lentils...Readers will hope Kaveri and Ramu will be back soon." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Set in colonial India in 1921, this debut mystery, the first in a projected series, makes full use of the oppressive British rule of the time, matched by the oppressive treatment of women, to highlight the ingenuity and bravery of a young woman determined to solve a murder. Nagendra's evocation of setting is riveting, and her use of colonial history is thoroughly fascinating, with devastating depictions of the airy condescension of the British. A fine start to a promising series." - Booklist (starred review)
"Told with real warmth and wit, in The Bangalore Detective Club, Harini Nagendra has created an intricate and fiendish mystery with a wonderful duo of amateur sleuths Kaveri and Ramu at its heart, and capturing the atmosphere and intensity of Bangalore in the roaring twenties. I can't wait for the next installment. A perfect read for fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Vaseem Khan." - Abir Mukherjee, award-winning author of The Shadows of Men
"A classic whodunnit with the added appeal of a female sleuth in colonial India. For the Western reader, a fascinating glimpse into customs and a mindset very different from our own." - Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author
"From page one we plunge into the exuberant cacophony of 1920s Bangalore, right there beside Kaveri Murthy in her adopted city: the drawing-rooms and dirt lanes, the gardens and brothels, the temples and jails. Nagendra's depiction of an awkward but tender new marriage is a delight, and who couldn't help but cheer for Kaveri as she swims in her sari, studies in secret, and commits herself to the pursuit of justice?" - Catriona McPherson, author of The Mirror Dance
This information about The Bangalore Detectives Club was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Harini Nagendra is a Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India, and the author of Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future. She received a 2013 Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar Award and a 2007 Cozzarelli Prize with Elinor Ostrom from the Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences for research on sustainability. The Bangalore Detectives Club, the first book in the Detective Kaveri mysteries, is her first novel. She lives in Bangalore.
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