Review of "The Blue Bar: A Blue Mumbai Thriller" by Damyanti Biswas

Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, who's been with the Mumbai police for twenty years, is called to the scene when a dead body is discovered on Madh Island.

During excavations for a luxury spa on the site, laborers uncover the corpse of a woman missing her head, hands, and feet. The bodies of two more women are found nearby, also missing their heads, hands, and feet.

The mutilated corpses stir a memory in Arnav and he has his capable assistant, Sub-Inspector Sita Naik, look up all unsolved cases involving decapitated bodies.



It turns out at least five beheaded female bodies were found in Mumbai over the last twenty years, and Arnav believes a serial killer is at work.



Businessman Rahul Taneja, who's building the spa on Madh Island, has powerful connections among police and politicians, and he's anxious to have construction continue....so he pulls some strings.



Thus high-ranking police officials discourage Arnav's talk of a serial killer, and encourage him to release the island crime scene so construction of the spa can resume.

As it turns out there's an entire cadre of people who want Arnav's serial killer inquiries shut down, including police, mobsters, government officials, and Bollywood bigwigs.



Worse yet, some conspirators seem willing to kill Arnav to stop the investigation.



Arnav has other things on his mind as well. He still pines for an old girlfriend named Tara Mondal, who was a teenage dancer in an establishment called The Blue Bar when Arnav met her.



Tara disappeared from Mumbai fourteen years ago, without a word to Arnav, and the Inspector still mourns the break-up.

In Arnav's free time he sees his current girlfriend, a journalist named Nandini.....



.....and hangs out with his colleague and best friend Hemant Shinde.



Both Arnav and Shinde long to expose a corrupt Joint Commissioner of Crime named Neelesh Joshi, who didn't properly investigate the rape of Arnav's sister Asha many years ago - implying Asha shouldn't have been out at night.



The resulting distress and humiliation led to Asha's suicide and Arnav is determined to take Joshi down.

Meanwhile, dance bars, which had been banned in Mumbai for over a decade because of unsavory practices, are being permitted to reopen. This includes The Blue Bar, and Tara Mondal is returning for one week, to work as a dancer and choreographer.



This leads to Arnav and Tara meeting again after fourteen years, and results in various kinds of drama.

The story is told in alternating chapters that follow the points of view of of Arnav, Tara, a character called 'the boy', and the boy's servant Bilal.

In Arnav's sections we observe his investigation of the serial killings, his renewed relations with Tara, and his delving into suspected collusion among cops, gangsters, politicos, business executives, and the like....whose main interests are power and money.



In Tara's chapters, we learn what's it like to dance in Mumbai bars - with drunk smelly men pawing you, throwing money at you, and negotiating for 'night work' (prostitute services).



We also find out why Tara left Mumbai fourteen years ago, after her boss at The Blue Bar sent her to entertain a perverted rich client who had special requests.

In sections devoted to the boy, we meet the psychopathic murderer that kills and mutilates women.



And in Bilal's chapters we discover that he's looked after the boy for many years, and (reluctantly) helped clean up after the boy's unsavory activities.



The novel immerses us in Indian culture, and though I'm not familiar with all the references to festivals, food, clothing, language, gods, goddesses, etc., I enjoyed the depictions. Moreover, I often felt I was steeped in the ambiance of Mumbai. For example, when young Tara first arrived in Mumbai on a train, "The stench of the city had overwhelmed her: a mix of rotting vegetation, frankincense, urine, perfume, frying fish, and the hopes and despair of more people than she'd ever seen gathered in one place."



And when Tara was sent to Borivali Train Station during rush hour, "[She] elbowed her way through the milling passengers. Many regional languages. Body odor. Perfumes. If she didn't give way to the men, they'd shove her at the shoulder if she was lucky; lower, if she wasn't."



I also liked the sprinkling of Indian slang words, like pandu (idiotic policeman); khabri (police informers); khajoor (stupid person); supari (contract to kill); fattu (a person who's afraid of breaking rules); and more.

I enjoyed the book, which is essentially a police procedural in an exotic (to me) setting. I look forward to future books in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley, Damyanti Biswas, and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Glass Hotel: A Novel" by Emily St. John Mandel

Vincent and her half-brother Paul aren't close as they grow up on Vancouver Island, and have little to do with each other as adults. After her mother's death, headstrong teenage Vincent goes to live with her aunt.....

.....while brother Paul is flunking out of college and abusing drugs.



Both siblings have a creative bent, Vincent with her video camera and Paul with his interest in music, and these pursuits have important ramifications in the novel.

As young adults both Vincent and Paul are briefly employed at the very upscale Hotel Caiette, on an island off the coast of British Columbia - Vincent as a bartender and Paul as a night caretaker. Paul gets fired for cause on the same day Vincent goes off with a hotel guest named Jonathan Alkaitis - a wealthy, middle-aged widower who runs an investment firm.



Vincent is happy to live in what she calls "the kingdom of money", which includes Jonathan's house in Connecticut - complete with pool and servants; Jonathan's pied-à-terre in Manhattan; a no-limit credit card; private planes; country clubs; travel abroad; and so on. All Vincent has to do is look beautiful, act sophisticated, and pose as Alkaitis' wife....which Jonathan feels has more cachet than 'girlfriend.'





There's a flaw in this picture, however, because Alkaitis' wealth is the result of finanacial fraud, a long-running Ponzi scheme that's going to land Jonathan in prison. [This isn't a spoiler, we learn this early in the book.] For several years Vincent is blissfully unaware of Jonathan's dupery, and enjoys her life traipsing around Manhattan; hanging out with her best friend; shopping; reading international newspapers; visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art; vacationing; meeting people; and the like.



Then Alkaitis' malfeasance is exposed, and the lives of Vincent and Jonathan go off in different directions. Alkaitis goes to prison......



......and Vincent eventually gets a job as a cook on an international container ship, which means 9 months traveling and 3 months off per year.



That's the bare bones of the plot, but Emily St. John Mandel is a highly sophisticated writer and there's much more going on.

The book skips back in forth in time from the 1990s, to 2008, to 2018 and beyond.....so the reader follows the characters over a number of decades. We observe Alkaitis' attentiveness to his cancer-stricken first wife Suzanne; observe Jonathan's love for his (now deceased) artist brother; and follow Alkaitis' business chicanery with a cadre of assistants.



Once Alkaitis is in prison, we share his 'counterlife', where the convict imagines an alternative existence where he's free; and we note how flattered Jonathan is when a writer interviews him for a book.



The story dips into magical realism as well since Jonathan is haunted by the ghosts of investors he bankrupted, some of whom committed suicide. Wraiths show up elsewhere in the novel as well, when they feel called to appear.

We also observe Vincent's life, from her youthful school vandalism; to her rebelious teenage years; to her life with Jonathan; to her actions post-Jonathan; to her involvement with another man; etc.



Paul is a less ubiquitous character, but we see him becoming besotted with a beautiful musician; accidently giving someone a deadly ecstasy pill; engaging in a bit of thievery; and so on.



Other characters enhance the story, including investors who trusted Alkaitis and lost everything; felonious employees of Alkaitis' investment firm, who go down with him; Jonathan's daughter, who's furious at her dad; Vincent's relatives and friends - some of whom suffered from Alkaitis' deceit; Vincent's co-workers on the containment ship; and more.

One aspect of the novel that fascinated me is the reaction of Alkaitis and his dishonest employees to their plight. Though they know they did wrong (very very wrong) they resent being arrested and prosecuted. The crooks prefer to think they made 'mistakes' and should somehow be excused. I believe this reaction is true to life as many people resent having to suffer the consequences of their actions.



This is a well written book and a good story. HIghly recommended. (In fact I like this book better than the author's highly acclaimed novel 'Station Eleven.')

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Sicker in the Head: More Conversations About Life and Comedy" by Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and comedian.

Judd Apatow

Apatow embarked on a project to interview great comics of the age, explaining "I have always seen comedy as a lifeline.....Without comedy, I don't know how I would survive." Apatow's first book 'Sick in the Head' includes conversations with a variety of humorists and the sequel, 'Sicker in the Head', continues the interviews with comics and other people in the entertainment industry.

The talks in 'Sicker in the Head' cover a variety of topics, such as choosing entertainment as a career; failures and successes along the way; types of comedy (political, observational, etc.); being influenced by family and friends; mental health problems; diversity in the entertainment industry; and much more. The conversations are candid and informative, and Apatow reveals a good deal about himself along the way.

To provide a feel for the book, I'll include snippets from interviews with some of the subjects.


⦿ Amber Ruffin - an American comedian who hosts the late-night talk show, The Amber Ruffin Show.


Amber Ruffin

When Apatow observes that, historically, talk shows almost never had female writers, Ruffin replies: "Yes it's true that I was the first Black woman writer with a show.....and the word is out about how good Black women are at the job, no matter what that job is....And I think people are slowly realizing that.....This shift in representation, this shift in hiring practices, might just stick around, because once you create a safe space for Black people at your job, which a lot of television shows are capable of doing now, then you see Black people excel."

⦿ Bowen Yang - an Australian-born American actor, comedian, writer, and podcaster who's on Saturday Night Live (SNL).


Bowen Yang on SNL

When Bowen came to America as a child he couldn't speak English very well, but he had a sense of humor. Yang observes that he realized "Humor can be my thing." As a kid Bowen was funny and goofy and "nerded out on comedy, which at that age meant watching SNL every week." Yang eventually made it onto the show as a writer and performer.

⦿ David Letterman - an American television host, comedian, writer and producer.


David Letterman

When Apatow asks about depression Letterman - talking about his history - observes, "I knew something had gone haywire. I always thought depression was 'Oh jeez, the Reds got beat last night. My day is ruined'....But you don't know it's a real sinkhole.....it's not just 'Go out and run around the block, you'll feel better."

⦿ Gary Gulman - an American stand-up comedian.


Gary Gulman

Gulman did a comedy special about depression and Apatow asks "What else is [depression] telling you other than that you're talentless?" Gulman responds, "[It's telling me] you're a bad person and if anybody knew who you really were, they would be horrified and you wouldn't have a friend in the world." On the upside Gary notes, "One of the magical things about being a comedian is when bad things happen you think, I can use this in an act, and it's not purely bad....There's revenge and redemption over these tragedies if you can get a joke out of it."

⦿ George Shapiro - Shapiro was an American talent manager and television producer.


George Shapiro

Apatow asks Shapiro why he went from being a talent agent to a manager, and Shapiro states, "When you're an agent, you're handling two hundred fifty to three hundred people, so there's a good percentage of assholes within that group, and that was also part of the reason why I left." When Apatow asks Shapiro about someone he likes, such as Jerry Seinfeld, George says, "He's just a joy to be with. He knows how to have fun. I have this part of my brain that, even though I'm quite old, has sort of stuck from when I was eight, nine, ten years old, and he has that too."

⦿ Hannah Gadsby - an Australian comedian, writer, and actress.


Hannah Gadsby

In a discussion about the nasty comments that haters post on social media, Gadsby notes, "Their anger is fascinating. And I think most women who have a public-facing persona understand hatred. People just hate you; it's kind of incredible. It's not always so clear-cut or obvious, but there is an element that, as a woman or anyone who's different, really - it just makes people angry."

⦿ Hasan Minhaj - an American comedian and actor of Indian descent.


Hasan Minhaj

Talking about diversity, Apatow observes that people need to "fall in love with the gay couple on Modern Family in order to realize that they're okay with gay marriage.....to fall in love with Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, or to idolize Beyoncé, in order to see through all that racist bullshit." And Hasan says, "This is the thing where I feel a deep sense of sadness....I've been able to accomplish a lot, and very powerful people have been able to see my humanity despite my [Muslim] religion, but can my son or daughter also carry that? If they walk into a room and people don't know they're my son or daughter, will people be like, Hey, are you a terrorist?"

⦿ Jimmy Kimmel - an American comedian and talk show host.


Jimmy Kimmel

When Apatow asks Kimmel why he connected with comedy as a child, Jimmy responds, "For me, my house was very loud, and there was a lot of yelling, so comedy was an escape from that.....I would just sit with my twelve-inch black and white TV in my bedroom. I had it on a desk, and I would sit there and draw, and I would watch or listen to the TV [comedy shows] late into the night, every night.

⦿ John Mulaney - an American comedian and actor.


John Mulaney

Apatow and Mulaney are discussing 'regular' people who are successful, and - referring to himself - Mulaney says, "It wasn't like, Oh, my dad died when I was two, and my mom had a heart condition, and the doctor was like, You better make her laugh.....there was none of that for me.....I definitely had a lot of embarrassment about being from a family that was well-off, and nothing other than personal problems that I had to deal with. My drug problems were basically fun until they weren't, and I took care of them rather quickly."

⦿ Kevin Hart - an American comedian and actor.


Kevin Hart

When Apatow asks Hart about Jay-Z being a mentor to him, Kevin observes, "Hova, he's my guy. He's who I go to when I have real questions, or when I've got an idea and I'm having trouble figuring out how to make it a reality.....When you've got a good mentor or advisor, you're able to dissect and process their wisdom, and use it how you feel best fits or suits you."

⦿ Margaret Cho - an American comedian and actress.


Margaret Cho

When Apatow asks Cho what club she got her start in, Margaret replies, "Probably the Holy City Zoo in San Francisco. I lived across the street from it so I could emcee there. I would go there every night after I would do shows everywhere else, and just watch everyone. It was really fun, too, because that was the one club that when we were all young, everybody lived close by." Cho mentions seeing Patton Oswalt, Blaine Capatch, Jeff Garlin, Robin Williams, Ron Lynch, Dana Gould, and others.

⦿ Mindy Kaling - an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer.


Mindy Kaling on 'The Office'

Talking about her early career, Kaling says, "I thought I was funny, and I did have a good sense of humor, but it wasn't until I was on The Office, when I was around all these other funny people in a writers' room, where I realized, [My] kind of jokes are kind of hacky, and these observations have already been made. I was already twenty-four when I felt like I was starting to become more sophisticated."

⦿ Ramy Youssef - an American comedian, actor, writer, and director of Egyptian descent.


Ramy Youssef

Speaking about diversity in the industry, Youssef says, "Overall, the demand for more diversity changes what people are looking for, and I think it can be really positive....The thing that I'm afraid of is that we hire people BECAUSE they're minorities, because if someone doesn't get the opportunity to get rejected for a job, they don't get the opportunity to grow.....I think there needs to be this healthy balance of just making sure that we're really doing due diligence in meeting the right people and making sure that they're getting a chance to audition....And then you really do have to make the hiring choice that you feel will inform your storytelling most accurately."

⦿ Samantha Bee - a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host.


Samantha Bee on her TV show 'Full Frontal.'

When Apatow asks Bee about making a living while getting started in her comedy career, Samantha says, "I had other jobs. I worked in restaurants; I waitered a lot.....Toward the end, right around the time I auditioned for The Daily Show, I was working at an ad agency. [When] I got hired for The Daily Show I just walked away from the job. For sure, there was a cascading series of ad-related problems all over western Ontario because I didn't follow up on so many different projects."

⦿ Tig Notaro - an American comedian, writer, and actress.


Tig Notaro

Apatow asks Notaro about her parents' divorce, and Tig observes, "My parents hated each other so much. They didn't stop fighting in court until they both literally filed bankruptcy. So it made me think, Oh I gotta get a job. And I got to take care of myself. I don't think they can take care of me. It made me very hypervigilant to pay my bills and have the right job while I pursued comedy. I got hyperorganized from their madness."

Will Ferrell - an American comedian, actor, and producer.


Will Ferrell

Apatow asks Ferrell about his time on SNL, and Will responds, "I just remember thinking to myself, This will be the hardest and yet most fun job you'll ever have. Because you basically live there, and these dumb little ideas you may have on a Tuesday actually have a chance to be on national television by Saturday. I was always amazed at the fact that it's a live show, where you have a hundred people running around, changing sets and wardrobe. It never grew old to me."

Other people interviewed in the book are: Cameron Crowe, Ed Templeton, Gayle King, Jeff Tweedy, John Cleese, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Roger Daltrey, Sacha Baron Cohen, Whitney Cummings, and Whoopi Goldberg.

All the conversations are interesting and informative, and would probably be helpful to aspiring comedians. The book also has photographs, most of them related to Judd Apatow, his family, and his career.

The book is especially suitable for dipping into between other tasks or books.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "M.C. Beaton's Devil's Delight: An Agatha Raisin Mystery" by R.W. Green

In this 33rd book in the 'Agatha Raisin' series, the private detective investigates cases involving murder, theft, and drug dealing. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Private detective Agatha Raisin - a fiftyish Englishwoman with small bear-like eyes and shiny brown hair - lives in Carsley, a pretty village in the Cotswolds.



To prepare for the wedding of her friends, Detective Sergeant Bill Wong and Detective Constable Alice Peters, Agatha slims down to bikini size.....and even looks good nude. This is fortuitous because Agatha gets involved with a homicide in a nudist colony.



It happens like this: Agatha and her assistant Toni Gilmour are driving to the Wong-Peters nuptials.....



.....when they're stopped by an agitated nude man running down the road.



The naked fellow, named Edward Carstairs, explains he belongs to a Naturist Society (nudist colony) and says he's found a dead body on an ancient stone called the Lone Warrior. Agatha and Toni accompany Edward to the Lone Warrior, but the corpse is gone.



Agatha's nemesis, Detective Chief Inspector Wilkes, dismisses the incident as a pratical joke and refuses to make inquiries.



Agatha vehemently disagrees, but goes on to Bill and Alice's wedding.



A few days later Agatha is proven right when a murdered man is discovered in a nearby lake. Agatha believes the prime suspects belong to the Naturist Society, and both Toni and Agatha go nude to investigate. 🙂

Meanwhile, Agatha's detective agency takes on two more cases: The owner of Watermill Brewery believes someone is stealing property from his company and Agatha's employee Simon goes undercover to check it out.



And the headmistress of Martinbrook Sixth Form College discovers drug dealing at the school, and a youthful private detective poses as a student to track down the culprit.



Meanwhile Agatha - who's always looking for a man - has a busy romantic life. The detective is toying with idea of reconciling with her ex-husband (and next-door neighbor) James Lacey; Agatha is trying to be 'just friends' with her former lover, Sir Charles Fraith, but Charles has other ideas; Agatha is drawn to Jasper Crane, the chairman of the Naturist Society; Agatha has dinner with handsome Giovanni, who's producing an opera for the church; and Agatha goes out with Inspector John Glass, who's helping her investigate the homicide.

As usual for this series, the story is infused with elements of humor and danger. The book also has interesting tidbits about British legends - involving witches, knights, and the Devil - that are associated with ancient stones.....



.....and describes the libretto for the opera 'Cavalleria Rusticana,' a tragedy about infidelity and love gone wrong.



I enjoyed the book, written by R.W. Green, who continued the series after the death of his friend M.C. Beaton. In my opnion Green does a good job capturing Beaton's voice as well as the essence of the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley, M.C. Beaton and R.W. Green, and Minotaur Books for a copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars