Smita Bhattacharya

Darya is in Goa to go through her late uncle’s effects, but it quickly becomes clear there’s more to his death than meets the eye.

While I’ve been trying to cut down on the number of mysteries I read these days, some of them do catch my eye quite a bit. Kiss of Salt was one of them. Actually, Bhattacharya offered all three books in the series for review, but since my schedule was quickly filling, I could only commit to doing this one, the first in the series. The third is due out later this month, and I’ll definitely be wanting to read the second and third books. I love that they’re set in places foreign and exotic to me, especially since I’ve been leaning more towards locales outside of what’s well-known to me. This one is set in Goa, India and I did feel like I was transported there, all while enjoying a mystery wrapped up in family and the past.

The Plot: A Family’s Secrets
After breaking up with her wealthy boyfriend and leaving her job, Darya decides going to take care of her late uncle’s effects in her father’s place would be perfect for her. She has nowhere to be and nothing to do, so she could use this as a vacation to figure out her next steps.

Only, Darya never counted on being spied on early in her stay. Nor does she count on meeting an attractive and friendly book store employee. And as threads from the past regarding her uncle’s wife’s disappearance start connecting to the present, Darya is sure there’s more to the story than she remembers, and that anyone is willing to tell.

Kiss of Salt is a slow burn. It takes a while to build up to the mystery and unraveling what’s going on, both in the past and the present. Darya isn’t exactly interested in solving the mystery, until it gives her no choice and offers more questions than anything else. I loved that little pieces were dropped here and there, but Darya chose to ignore them in order to enjoy her vacation, and get to know a certain bookseller better. Despite the slow pace, it was tantalizingly atmospheric, offering a taste of part of India while still capturing the suspense of a mystery. It certainly reeled me in and made the pages fly by. It was breathtaking, and a lot of fun to tease out all the secrets that had been lurking for two decades.

Kiss of Salt is also reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s novels. Despite being decades later and set in a different country with a very different sort of detective, Bhattacharya managed to capture the same type of storytelling with breadcrumbs dropped every step of the way. I loved the little hints dropped here and there that proved to be so much more important than they seemed initially. The long drawn out reveal at the end, so Christie-like, was masterful and so much fun to read.

Overall, it struck a perfect balance between being a mystery and being about a young woman trying to live her life the way she wants to and being able to move on from the bad things in her past. It paired together beautifully, each side complimenting the other, while also making comments about traditional family life and gender roles.

The Characters: A Spunky, Reluctant Sleuth
I know very little about Indian culture, so I’ve put my trust into the author. In general, it felt restrictive, especially for women, where they have certain roles and boundaries they are supposed to fulfill dutifully and not seek more beyond them. As an American, it was kind of chafing, so I was glad to see Darya chafing under it as well. I loved that she was stubborn and strong-minded and did what she felt was the best thing to do even when the men in her life told her otherwise. She was spunky and felt like a feminist, but was also a little too willing to overlook questionable things because it suited her. In a way, because she spent much of the novel trying to edge her way out of the traditional confines of her gender in order to find herself, it felt like women’s fiction, which was fun and really had me on her side the whole time.

Since most of Kiss of Salt is told from Darya’s perspective, the reader gets to know everyone around her through her eyes so they’re all colored by what she knows and remembers of them. It was fascinating and fun to feel so comfortable when meeting everyone alongside her, and then making a turn somewhere and suddenly becoming suspicious of them. I think I was suspicious of everyone at one point or another! The writing also lends itself to this as every word felt carefully chosen, every unused word perfectly unused. It all came together to paint a beautiful picture of Darya and the way her perceptions of everyone shifted and changed as she discovered new things about them, always managing to keep that touch of suspense in just about every scene.

The Setting: Portuguese-Influenced Goa, India
Set in Goa, India, it felt exotic and beautiful, while also capturing that incredibly smoky, hazy, stark suspenseful atmosphere I so love in mysteries and thrillers. Prior to reading Kiss of Salt, I had never heard of Goa, so it was fun to get to know it through the book. I loved that Bhattacharya wove information about Goa into the narrative so it made sense, and also went forward with setting the scene, so to speak, without taking time to expound on everything that would be foreign to someone like me.

Noted in the book, Goa was influenced by the Portuguese instead of the British, so it took some adjusting to get to know a different part of India than what I’ve previously been exposed to. It felt remarkably relaxed, though the gender roles still felt restrictive. I loved that I got a sense of the India I’m familiar with through books and media, but was also introduced to another side, one I had no idea existed. It was lovely and exotic, but, to Darya, it’s a place of family and home, so it also felt homey, and also a little sinister as the mystery wound towards it’s inevitable resolution.

Overall: An Incredibly Suspenseful Mystery
Kiss of Salt came when I was looking to cut down on mysteries, but something about it just caught my fancy. Wonderfully exotic to this American reader, it also offered a strong mystery with intriguing characters and a spunky sleuth who wants to make her own way in life. Each element was strong on its own, but even better when spun together. It’s reminiscent of Agatha Christie, but unique enough to stand on it’s own. I loved how the past crossed paths with the present in this story and that it never felt confusing. Even though I felt a little frustrated with Darya as she ignored subtle clues in order to pursue what she wanted, I also couldn’t fault her from wanting to just figure herself out and find her own way.

Thank you to the author, Smita Bhattacharya, for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.… (altro)

So far I've read the first two, and cannot wait to get into the third!

Kiss of Salt

The first book in the series, Kiss of Salt, is a delightful, atmospheric, slow burn mystery that introduces the spunky Darya Nandkarni. I loved that it focuses on Dayra's own family to get her amateur sleuthing career started with the disappearance of her aunt when Darya was very young. It brought in other family members and her aunt and uncle's neighbors on the beautiful, idyllic Heliconia Lane. There's also a light romance perfectly woven through because this novel hits a perfect balance of Darya living her life and Darya solving a mystery. The mystery itself is always in the back of the mind, tingling and tickling. It's just so atmospheric.

I adored Darya. She's spunky and fights against what men's ideas of women are. She's very clever and very intent on living life the way she wants to despite her father and love interest trying to hover to protect her. But she's also so normal, just an ordinary young woman who gets pulled into solving a decades old mystery. All of the characters were incredibly well characterized. They all had their role in the story, and they all played it to perfection. It was so easy to keep the main characters straight in my head and all of them added a little something to the story.

But my favorite part has to be that Kiss of Salt transported me to Goa, India. Before reading this book, I had never heard of it, didn't even know a part of India had been influenced by the Portuguese. It was idyllic, so pretty, so coastal. I want to visit one day. Reading this book made me feel like I was there. It was a delightful contrast to the ominous veil because of the mystery.

The Secret Angels

The second book in the series, it picks up some time after the events of Kiss of Salt. Darya is intent on setting up a business with her boyfriend, so is in Mumbai with her friend Veda to get some training to be a barista. But Chapel Road, where they are staying, has a secret: over the years, young women had been vanishing from the street.

Just like Kiss of Salt, The Secret Angels is an incredible atmospheric, slow burn mystery. Actually, I think it was a bit of a slower burn than Kiss of Salt. In this one, Darya was really reluctant while Veda seemed to be jumping in with both feet. There was something of a push-pull between Darya and the mystery. With her friend tangled up with it, she has no choice but to get involved, and there's so much danger at every turn. The Secret Angels felt much more dangerous, the secrets deeper and more threatening. This was such a thrilling mystery.

In this book, Darya felt more reluctant and really protective of her friend. She knows what solving a mystery is like, so I liked that she was reluctant. Her friend kind of forced her hand, but I really liked Veda's characterization anyways. She was head strong, but also felt a bit adrift professionally. The other characters were, like in Kiss of Salt, absolutely perfect. They had their roles and they played them perfectly. It was so hard to figure out who to trust, who to believe.

Unlike Kiss of Salt, The Secret Angels is set in a large city. Mumbai felt suitably bustling and a bit more mixed than Goa. I liked that the city itself felt fast paced like a typical big city, but Chapel Lane feels kind of untouched by the madness of a city. There seemed to be quiet secrets in every nook and cranny and it was almost like it was a step removed from the rest of the city, like it was its own microcosm.

What I Love About the Darya Nandkarni's Misadventures Series

I love that Darya is a reluctant, but spunky amateur detective. She didn't want to be part of either of the cases I read, but was absolutely brilliant at solving them. She's really just trying to live a normal life. I can't wait to see what's in store for her in the third book.

I also love that the settings are exotic. They are different from book to book, offering a wonderful way to travel beside a familiar character, and a fun way to get involved in dangerous mysteries. There's a perfect balance of mystery, setting, and characters, and I love Bhattacharya's ability to seamlessly deposit the reader into the places Darya goes to. I really felt like I was in Goa and Mumbai.

These mysteries are strongly reminiscent of Agatha Christie, but Bhattacharya puts her own twist in. Everything about them reminded me of the few Christie books I've enjoyed and I believe Bhattacharya has perfectly captured the essence of a Christie mystery. They really are incredibly atmospheric!… (altro)

A Thank you to the author for gifting me this book. This is my honest and unbiased review

I love myself a good cozy mystery with a strong female protagonist and with Kiss of Salt I got exactly that. Darya was a great character, I do admit that at first I did not connect with her right away and was a little worried that I wouldn't. However, the more I read and got to know Darya, the more I started to enjoy her narration and attitude. Darya is a strong woman who has just got out of a tough relationship and just wanted to get her life together, of course things don't go according to plan and she is caught up and sucked into a mystery.

I did guess who the culprit was right away, which was due to clues that Bhattacharya sprinkled in, they were mixed in very well and if you don't pay attention you can skip right past them. I also guessed a couple of other details but was still taken aback by the ending and how everything played out which I appreciated. Bhattacharya is a good writer, who turned some cliche elements into a fresh and creative story. Kiss of Salt reads more like a classic mystery than the newer cozy mysteries I'm used to which makes it feel unique.

Overall, a good mystery for anyone who enjoys being taken by surprise.… (altro)