Harini Nagendra brings the vibrancy of 1920s India to life in the “Bangalore Detectives Club” series, tightly-plotted mysteries interweaving themes of colonialism, women’s empowerment and the environment. In the latest, Into the Leopard’s Den, her fearless sleuth Kaveri Murthy—now pregnant with her first child—travels to the verdant forests and sprawling coffee plantations of Coorg to investigate a murder.
The novel opens in Bangalore where an old woman is found dead in a hut, clutching a picture of Kaveri. A group of boys had been playing nearby and heard the commotion. Upon investigation, one of them finds the woman on the brink of death. She implores him to locate Kaveri and ask her to find the killer. Quick-thinking Venu runs to alert Inspector Isamail, and then to find Kaveri, whose family employs him as a milk boy. He has, after all, been trained in the basics of detection.
Like Kaveri, Ismail was a fan of the Sherlock Holmes series and took inspiration from the Baker Street boys. His network of street urchins, like Venu, could fan out across the city, going unnoticed. They could climb trees and look into windows, hang around on street corners to keep a watch on the goings-on.
From there, a series of events unfolds to lead Kaveri in pursuit of the murderer. As she and Venu scour the environs of the hut for clues, they find evidence which may connect the crime with someone in Coorg. Because her husband Ramu is in the region setting up a new medical facility, Kaveri concocts a plan to visit him, despite her mother-in-law’s remonstrations. She warned:
“Don’t keep talking about detection, detection, all the time, Kaveri. It’s not healthy for the baby.”
Despite doubt and danger, Kaveri arrives in Coorg, but as the days go by, she cannot find any clues linking the murdered woman in Bangalore with anyone there. Frustrated, she only finds more questions. One of these concerns the source of rumors about a ghost leopard roaming the forest. Locals say that bad luck follows a sighting, and Ramu himself has come face to face with the beast:
The leopard’s growl reverberated through the forest … A long, lithe shape burst out of the grove of trees ahead of Ramu, clearing the road in one swift move, and crashing through the dried brush on the other side.
Coorg residents are also preoccupied with the harvests on the two main coffee plantations. One is operated by Lakamma, a local woman who hosts Kaveri and Ramu during their stay. She employs local people and pays them a fair wage. The other is controlled by Colonel Boyd, infamous for exploiting not only his workers but also the environment. Another mystery emerges when threats are made on the life of the Coffee King of Coorg, who has no shortage of enemies.
Local cuisine and cultural traditions play an important role in the story.
While trying to solve these three mysteries—the identity of the old woman’s killer, the origin of the ghost leopard rumors, and the person behind the threats to Colonel Boyd’s life—societal differences are exposed. Yet even Kaveri, at times, fails to recognize her own biases, potentially hampering her investigation, but fortunately she has Venu to help.
“You’re doing it again” … “Thinking like you, who lives in a big house, with cupboards full of money—not like one of us.”
Indeed, while staying in Coorg, Kaveri continues to enjoy the comforts her position in society affords, for instance Lakamma’s housekeeper prepares all her meals. The local cuisine and cultural traditions play an important role in the story, and mouthwatering descriptions entice readers to explore the recipe collection at the back of the book.
Dipping the slices of kadubu in the chutney, Kaveri ate them one by one, relishing the combination of the tangy tamarind and coconut chutney that accompanied the steamed rice kadubu, and the slivers of coconut inside the rice.
With delicious dishes and deepening relationships among the characters, devoted readers of the series will find much to enjoy here. However, Into the Leopard’s Den can be read on its own as an atmospheric mystery novel with a heroine whose curiosity and courage shine a light on long-held secrets.