Svetlana's Reads and Views

    Title of the book: Heart-work; short stories Author: Roberta Silman  Publisher: Campden Hill Books Publishing Date: 2024 (short stores 1977-2024) ISBN: 979-8-9859260-2-6 Summary: IN THIS SECOND COMPELLING COLLECTION of stories Roberta Silman explores the intricacies of love, the infinite surprises that exist within families, and the yearning for guidance that can result in great leaps of the imagination on the part of her passionate and resilient characters. As she did in her first prize-winning collection, Blood Relations, Silman has created a group of unforgettable people who have something to tell us about how to negotiate the often dangerous shoals of daily life. Silman’s understanding of the bonds that create fierce loyalties, her ability to see into her characters’ minds in uncanny ways, and her grasp of the loneliness that is part of the human condition are revealed in these stories, which have appeared in The Atlantic, McCall’s, The Virginia Quarterly Review, ...

    Name of Book: Hot Stage Author: Anita Nair ISBN: 978-1-913394-96-7 Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press  Part of a Series: Inspector Gowda series  Type of book: India, December of 2012, right politics, Bangalore, religion, drinking bars,  territory, juggling balls, mystery, death, illegal fights, undercover work  Year it was published: 2024 Summary: The third in the Inspector Gowda series, set in Bangalore, India. Borei Gowda is a splendidly grumpy, hard-drinking, deeply flawed policeman whose chaotic home life includes an absent wife, an estranged son and an enigmatic mistress. When elderly Professor Mudgood is found dead in his Bangalore house one winter morning, it is considered a natural death; after all, he was 82 years old, but Gowda isn’t so sure. All the evidence points to a political murder since the professor was a fervent critic of right-wing forces in India. But the more Gowda delves into the details, the more convinced he becomes that the professo...

    Name of Book: Chain of Custody Author: Anita Nair  ISBN: 978-1-908524-74-4 Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press  Part of a Series: Inspector Gowda series (prequel A CUT LIKE WOUND, sequel HOT STAGE)  Type of book: India, child trafficking, kidnapping, police officers, politics, mysteries, balancing act, 2011? Bangalore, lovers, daily life, heartbreak  Year it was published: 2016 Summary: Bangalore's Inspector Gowda is back in another nail-biting thriller. What does thirteen-year-old Nandita's disappearance have to do with the murder of a well-known lawyer in a gated community? Gowda is soon embroiled in the investigation of a child-trafficking racket. Negotiating insensitive laws, indifferent officials, and uncooperative witnesses, he is in a race against time to rescue Nandita from one of the most depraved criminal rings he has ever encountered. Anita Nair lives in Bangalore and is an internationally acclaimed author and playwright. Her novel Ladies Coupe is ...