Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson
DETECTIVE AUNTY. By Uzma Jalaluddin. Harper Perennial. 324 pages. $17.99, trade paperback original.
Uzma Jalaluddin’s debut murder mystery is both familiar and different, a well plotted and well written whodunit that should appeal both to mystery fans and to readers who have enjoyed Jalaluddin’s earlier novels, which are generally considered romance novels.
But then, according to reviews (I had never read Uzma Jalaluddin until I was offered a review copy of this first mystery), her “romance novels” may not be what you’re used to either. Her successful first novel, Ayesha at Last, has been described as both a romantic comedy and a retelling of a Jane Austen novel, only involving Muslims living in Toronto, Canada.
Different, definitely.
Detective Aunty is also set among the desi, or South Asian, community in Toronto.
The story has many of the elements of classic cozy mysteries – those where the emphasis is not on violence and the gory details of the murder, but rather on figuring out who killed the person and why. It even admiringly mentions Agatha Christie, the British “Queen of Mystery.” And Kausar Khan, the sleuth and heroine, has some key characteristics in common with one of Christie’s most famous sleuths, Jane Marple.
Like Miss Marple, she’s a woman alone, although Kausaur is a widow who was a traditional Muslim wife, rather than a “spinster.” Kausar is probably younger than Miss Marple, but, in her late 50s and widowed after having had no career or apparent life outside her home, she’s equally easy for many people to overlook – or to describe somewhat condescendingly as “Detective Aunty.”
More important, Kausar shares Miss Marple’s sharp intellect, curious mind and ability to ferret out information.
Those familiar elements, however, are woven into a world that will be unfamiliar to many readers. As we read, feeling sympathetic toward Kausar and her family, and increasingly interested in solving the mystery, we easily navigate a community that lives in a world where modern North American city life blends with Muslim foods, customs and attitudes.
Kausar has lived alone for nearly a year, since her considerably older husband died of pancreatic cancer. Long before that happened, the two of them had given up their life – and most of the contact with their family – in Toronto and moved to North Bay, a town about a four-hour drive distant in northeastern Ontario.
Kausar’s life had been devastated by a tragic accident, and the move had come after she was unable to pick up the pieces in Toronto. She realizes now that as she struggled with her loss and depression, she has sacrificed much of the relationship she might have had with her surviving children and now her grandchildren.
Kausar’s reluctance to return to Toronto is overcome by a shocking phone call: Her 36-year old daughter, mother of two young girls, has been arrested for killing the owner of the shopping center where she runs a clothing boutique.
Once back in Toronto, Kausar is determined to use her perceptive abilities to clear her daughter and find out who the real villain is. Almost immediately, she also is drawn into trying to figure out what’s going on between her daughter and son-in-law as well as unraveling her teenage granddaughter’s secrets.
She also begins to confront her past, helped along by former good friends she had cut off when she escaped to North Bay.
It doesn’t take long for her to gain insight into complex relationships among several figures who seem tied to the murder, and, in some cases, their families.
It’s not easy, but Kausar perseveres, and the story culminates in a Christie-esque reveal.
The search for truth also takes Kausar to a new chapter in her life, a development that seems likely to provide more mysteries for her to solve and her readers to enjoy.
One note: If I had it to do over, I would make a list identifying characters in the novel as I read. When all the characters have names that are unfamiliar to many non-desi readers, keeping them straight can be challenging.