Miss Marple, But Make it Desi

Uzma Jalaluddin is a Canadian playwright and author of some of my favorite romances and rom-coms, including Ayesha at Last, Hana Khan Carries On, and Much Ado About Nada. Her stories feature South Asian and Muslim characters and are often inspired by classic romantic comedies, from Jane Austen’s novels to You’ve Got Mail.

Detective Aunty is Jalaluddin’s debut mystery, a cozy whose titular aunty is a Marple-esque widow named Kausar Khan. She is grieving the unexpected loss of her husband when she gets a distressing call from her thirty-something daughter, Sana: she’s been arrested for the murder of the landlord of her desi clothing boutique. Sana begs Kausar to come to Toronto and help her, and Kausar agrees… but it’s complicated. 

Kausar hasn’t been back to Toronto in a very long time. She and her husband left Toronto after a tragic accident took their son’s life. Sana never really looked back, even though it meant missing out on her surviving children’s lives. Every year, she promises to visit Sana and her family, and every year she cancels. She wants to go, but Toronto holds too many painful memories to make good on her promises.

So Kausar nervously makes the trip and quickly realizes she has her work cut out for her. Sana’s husband is absent, and Sana changes the subject whenever Kausar asks about him or their marriage. Sana’s eldest daughter, who is wary of Kausar, is acting suspiciously. Sana’s version of events on the day of the murder isn’t exactly adding up. And Sana only appears to want her mom’s help with domestic tasks, not for her to use the deductive reasoning and problem-solving skills she’s known for (they don’t call her “Detective Aunty” for nothin’). When Kausar confronts Sana, she admits that she really only called her mother from jail because hers was the only number she still knew by heart. 

With all of that working against her, Kausar is still determined to get to the bottom of whatever happened here. She gets all up in the business of the Golden Crescent community where Sana lives, from other shopkeepers to the police to Sana’s husband when he finally shows up. She flies under the radar because, like any Marple fan or person with eyeballs knows, older women are often invisible and easily dismissed by society. That invisibility, while maddening, does have the benefit of making spying and meddling an easier task.

I loved so much about this book. This is very much a cozy mystery, but it also deals with heavier topics like grief and trauma. That exploration is satisfying, striking a delicate balance between addressing the topics sufficiently and not dragging down what is still ultimately a lighthearted read. The book has all these tantalizing references to South Asian food and steaming cups of chai, and it’s so nice to see a South Asian Muslim widow of a certain age get to define her second act on her terms. Kausar is a formidable sleuth, observant, dogged, and delightfully meddlesome in her pursuit of the truth. I am a lover of older woman sleuths in general, but this aunty might be one of my new faves.

This is great on audio for all my audiobook folks. It is narrated by television, film, and voice actor Deepti Gupta. She has the richest, most soothing voice, the sort that makes all advice sound sage.