Welcome to the dark side of Delhi.
Ruby Jones has moved to Delhi to pursue her dreams of becoming an international news journalist. But when the body of Stephen Newby, her flatmate and best friend, is pulled from the Yamuna River - and the circumstances surrounding his death become more and more mysterious - she puts her investigative instincts to good use as she tries to uncover who's responsible.
Ruby's questions take her deep into the world of Indian policing - and into the heart of a yoga ashram. She discovers that the yoga world isn't the calm spiritual place she imagined, and beneath the breathing exercises and dog poses lies something sinister - something that she's certain points to dark, hidden secrets that could have huge repercussions for all involved if discovered...
About the author: Kathleen McCaul was born in 1981 in London. She read English at Oxford University before travelling to Baghdad in 2003 to help begin Iraq's first post-war English language newspaper.
As a journalist she has lived and worked in Kashmir, Iraq, Qatar, Finland, the UK and India - where she freelanced as a radio reporter for the BBC World Service and wrote the occasional article. She most recently worked as a news producer for Al Jazeera English, before leaving to write her second novel called Whispers from a Goan Grave out in 2012.
My take: Kathleen McCaul's gripping debut novel catapults the reader into a world of corruption - beat out a guilty confession, fix the evidence - in India's capital. Easy to read with plenty on Indian culture and its festivals and spirituality but not so heavy on the crime. The protagonist is like a modern day Nancy Drew sleuthing in the slums of India. Has great potential for a debut and I would recommend it for a light crime read and will certainly look out for its sequel next year.
Rating: 4/5
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