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A review by robinwalter
The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
A delightful start to the series. I really enjoyed the way the author worked the setting and historical context into the story without massive info dumps of exposition. As someone with family ties to Bangalore (as it was then) and Bengaluru now, the setting was of great interest. The mystery was well put together, the political realities of the day were deftly handled..
I liked the way the book pulled no punches in talking about the horrors of the British colonial rule (e.g. Jallianwala Bagh) and loved that Gandhi was correctly called Mohandas, since few if any Dalits would consider him a Mahatma. Despite that, the political content was not preachy and did make a nice (in the older sense of the word) distinction between the political and the personal.
Probably the only niggle was that Kaveri's domestic situation seemed a bit implausibly bright and breezy. That made it seem a bit "cosy", but the flip side of that was that it also made it a relaxing read. I'm looking forward to the next two books in the series, and especially to see if Whitefields (where my cousins live) crops up in either one.
I liked the way the book pulled no punches in talking about the horrors of the British colonial rule (e.g. Jallianwala Bagh) and loved that Gandhi was correctly called Mohandas, since few if any Dalits would consider him a Mahatma. Despite that, the political content was not preachy and did make a nice (in the older sense of the word) distinction between the political and the personal.
Probably the only niggle was that Kaveri's domestic situation seemed a bit implausibly bright and breezy. That made it seem a bit "cosy", but the flip side of that was that it also made it a relaxing read. I'm looking forward to the next two books in the series, and especially to see if Whitefields (where my cousins live) crops up in either one.