Under the Eye of Kali (An Anita Ray Mystery)

by Susan Oleksiw

Book Overview

Trouble befalls two American tourists staying at the cozy seaside Hotel Delite in southern India. Helping her aunt Meena run the place, photographer and gallery owner Anita Ray is drawn into the mystery. The victims, both women, were nurses, one of whom admitted to smuggling black market medical supplies across the border to those in need. Now one of them is dead, the other in a hospital. Aunt Meena is teetering on hysteria and Anita needs answers. Of...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373267711
• ISBN13: 9780373267712
• Release Date: January 2011
• Publisher: WorldWide
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Take a Vacation

Ladies and gentlemen! Do you need a vacation but do not have the luxury of taking one? Then allow your imagination to spirit you away to Kerala in south India, to a land of sun, sandy beaches, and palm trees with their glistening fronds swaying in gentle breezes from the Arabian Sea, and join Susan Oleksiw's Anita Ray in her newest adventure. Oleksiw's fast-paced mystery is written in the tradition of Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith, yet her sleuth Anita's investigative skills are not up to Miss Marple's sharp-eyed observations, nor Mr. Poirot's `little grey cells'. Nor is Anita superwoman going after the bad guys and gals. She is every man's or woman's detective--intelligent, questioning, dogged, and determined, yet sometimes blundering and missing clues right before her eyes. But in the end, she discovers who did the deed and why, and the evil doers receive their just rewards. Under the Eye of Kali takes place in the resort town of Kovalam, where neither the tourists nor the inhabitants are necessarily what they seem. I'm certainly not going to give away the story itself. Suffice it to say that people bring their personalities, emotions, histories, and cultural backgrounds with them wherever they go, and mixing these together may have in some instances amusing and in other instances combustible results. Anita herself is caught between two cultures--those of the United States and India, and both plays with and is buffeted by the cultural understandings of each. So if you enjoy mysteries, read this book. Where else can you take a vacation, learn a bit about another culture, read a rousing good story, and enjoy yourself at the same time? Also be sure to scope out a good Indian restaurant by the time you have begun reading this book. You will want to eat some Indian food.

West meets East in a Delightful New Sleuth

Oleksiw's personal knowledge of India comes to life in the exotic sights, smells, and sounds of a small vacation village in the tropical part of that country. Anita Ray, half Indian, half American, is an engaging young photographer who helps to manage her aunt's hotel. When one American woman staying at the Hotel Delite goes missing and another becomes very ill, Anita's curiosity draws her into an investigation, much to the dismay of her doting and very traditional Auntie Meena. What begins as a simple seeking of answers quickly escalates to matters of murder, international smuggling, and retribution. Anita Ray--brought up in America, living in India--is the perfect foil and interpreter for a cast of Indian characters who are sometimes quirky and amusing, sometimes lovable, and always intriguing. Likewise, through her eyes we get a glimpse of the insensitivity and naivete of American tourists, and the unexpected ways westerners can fall under the spell of a seductive setting.

enjoyable amateur sleuth

Kovalam, India is a popular tourist town as people come from around the world to visit sites like the Balabhadrakali Temple. American Anita Ray stays in the city not to sightsee, but to help her Auntie Meena run her eight-room Hotel Delite. One of the guests, middle aged American Jean, vanishes on the same night her friend Marge is taken to the Anandabudhi Hospital after she contracts food poisoning at the Bamboo Village restaurant where Anita and her Brahmin boyfriend Anand also dined. Other guests ignore the duet as they go about their itineraries. Pam plans to visit the Suchindram Temple; Candy treks to Trivandrum; Emily wants to know more about Kali. However, Anita is concerned about Jean, who illegally was going to bring medical supplies into Myanmar. Deciding to investigate, she asks youthful assistant Peeru to watch over the photo shop she owns so she can explore the rice paddies until she learns what happened to Jean and then she must decide what to do next. The location is excellent as this South India city comes alive to anchor this enjoyable amateur sleuth tale. Anita, apparently the star of short stories not read by me, is an obstinate American working in the land of her family, who cannot stop herself from investigating in order to catch a killer. This strong whodunit also contains a deep underlying message to embrace your heritage and not turn your back on your roots. Filled with suspense, readers will relish a trip to India during tourist season. Harriet Klausner