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Books Quarterly | The Bookbag | Buzz Magazine | Johannesberg Weekender | It's A Crime!
"This taut political thriller, played out against the backdrop of 1960’s unrest in divided Calcutta , is set in a n Anglo-Indian community – a much-neglected legacy of empire and an aspect that has rarely appeared in fiction. Written by an Anglo-Indian, this novel wonderfully evokes time and place, and gives a sense of the betrayal and loss that change can cause."
Susan Osborne
Books Quarterly
"McCall Smith's now almost legendary sleuth pales into insignificance against our Anglo Indian heroine... This is a really competent novel and Peters must be praised for the way in which he blends these diverse elements to make a cohesive story. Here we have a murder mystery, romance, political history and cultural insight; it could have been messy but it sits together beautifully."
Fiona Thompson
The Bookbag
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"You’re reading in bed, but you begin to think about your early start. You decide to finish the chapter then go to sleep, but you find yourself reading the next chapter too, and the next one … well Mrs D’Silva contains the mystery and intrigue that stops you from getting to sleep, which is why I can give testament to having read it in two days. Set within turbulent 1960s India , this novel contains the right balance of politics, history, crime and romance to keep you interested and wanting to know more."
Buzz Magazine
"Peters has just written a remarkably assured first novel, based on his childhood experience of Anglo-Indian society, which is not only a gripping crime thriller with a political dimension, but also explores en route what it is that causes one to “belong” as a minority in a racially diverse society...... it is a ripping good yarn and the ending is sufficiently ambiguous to give one hope that one might see more of Mrs D’Silva at some time in the future."
William Saunderson-Meyer
Johannesburg weekender
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"It is hard not to smile many times on reading because the people are lovingly engaging, even the not well-likes ones... Mrs D'Silva's Detective Instincts and the Shaitan of Calcutta is an absolute gem of a novel. And if that that's not enough to tempt you, the cover includes three recipes."
It's A Crime!
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First published 2009 | ISBN 978 1906998 011 | Published by Parthian
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