Worlds collide in the latest BOOKSPO, in which Uzma Jalaluddin contemplates her pivot from romance writing to crime fiction. Or was it actually a pivot after all? It turns out that Jalaluddin’s history with crime fiction goes way back, to her own voracious reading as a teen, and even further—to her grandfather’s library in India, which included the novels of Agatha Christie.
How did one of Christie’s best known works, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, inspire DETECTIVE AUNTY, set admidst a Muslim community in modern day Toronto? How was Jalaluddin inspired by her mother’s generation to give a unique twist to her Miss Marple-like character? And how is a mystery novel structured like an inside-out romance (which poses quite the challenge for the writer moving from one genre to the other?). Listen to find out!
When her grown daughter is suspected of murder, a charming and tenacious widow digs into the case to unmask the real killer in this twisty, page-turning whodunit—the first book in a cozy new detective series from the acclaimed author of Ayesha at Last
After her husband’s unexpected death twelve months earlier, Kausar Khan never thought she’d receive another phone call as heartbreaking—until her thirty-something daughter, Sana, phones to say she’s been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique. Determined to help her child, Kausar heads to Toronto for the first time in nearly twenty years.
Returning to the Golden Crescent suburb where she raised her children and where her daughter still lives, Kausar finds that the thriving neighborhood she remembers has changed. The murder of Sana’s landlord is only the latest in a wave of local crimes that have gone unsolved.
And the facts of the case are troubling: Sana found the man dead in her shop at a suspiciously early hour, with a dagger from her windowfront display plunged into his chest. But Kausar—a woman with a keen sense of observation and deep wisdom honed by life experience—senses there’s more to the story than her daughter is sharing.
With the help of some old friends and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth. Because who better to pry answers from unwilling suspects than a meddlesome aunty? But even Kausar could not have predicted the secrets, lies, and betrayals she finds along the way . . .
Uzma Jalaluddin is a critically acclaimed and bestselling novelist, playwright, and teacher. She writes nuanced and entertaining stories about Muslims, South Asians, and Canadians and is the author of Much Ado About Nada, Three Holidays and a Wedding, Hana Khan Carries On, and Ayesha At Last. as well as her first play, The Rishta. Her novels have been optioned for film and television, including by Amazon Studios and Mindy Kaling. A high school English teacher, Jalaluddin is also a former contributor to the Toronto Star and the Atlantic. She lives near Toronto with her family.
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