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Book Summary and Reviews of A Nest of Vipers by Harini Nagendra

A Nest of Vipers by Harini Nagendra

A Nest of Vipers

A Bangalore Detectives Club Mystery

by Harini Nagendra

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • May 2024, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The latest novel in the award-winning Bangalore Detectives Club series finds amateur sleuth Kaveri Murthy involved in a dangerous plot that endangers the life of the visiting Prince of Wales.

This latest novel in the Bangalore Detectives Club mystery series takes the reader deep into the historical era surrounding the visit by Edward, Prince of Wales, to Bangalore in 1921. When the prince begins a tour of a number of Indian cities, he encounters passionate crowds demanding independence from Britain, with rioting on the streets of Bombay in November 1921.

The mood of the prince's subsequent trip to Bangalore and Mysore in January 1922 appears, at first glance, very different and is made to large, welcoming crowds. But perhaps all is not what it seems to be. While exploring another (seemingly unrelated) crime scene, Kaveri and Ramu become tangled in a complex web of intrigue, getting pulled into a potentially dangerous plan that could endanger the life of the visiting prince.

This new novel also takes us into the world of jadoo—Indian street magic—with sleight-of-hand magicians, snake charmers, and rope tricks. Kaveri and Ramu continue their sleuthing, with help from the Bangalore Detectives Club, amidst the growing rumblings of Indian independence and the backdrop of female emancipation.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Nagendra masterfully melds character, plot, and period detail in her transporting third historical mystery featuring amateur detective Kaveri Murthy. Nagendra is in peak form here, expertly mining the era's political frisson for top-shelf suspense. Fans of Abir Mukherjee's Wyndham and Banerjee series will devour this." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A winning combination of historical mystery and detective work propelled by the-clock-is-ticking danger. A courageous heroine; intriguing social history embodied in clothes, housing, and food; Indian jadoo magic; and a propulsive plot all add up to a rewarding read." ―Booklist (starred review)

This information about A Nest of Vipers was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Harini Nagendra

Harini Nagendra is a professor of sustainability at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India. She has received the Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar Award as well as the Cozzarelli Prize with Elinor Ostrom from the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for research on sustainability. The Bangalore Detectives Club and Murder Under a Red Moon, the first two novels in the Bangalore Detective Club mystery series, are available from Pegasus Crime.

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