Customer Reviews

The Cosmic Clues (Dell Mystery)

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In Pune, India, the owner and chief investigator of Stellar Investigations Sonia Someth has a unique way of handling her client's problems; a master of Verdic Astrology, Sonia applies horoscope readings of her customers and others involved in her cases to supplement the more common investigative techniques. No one takes Sonia seriously until she ferrets out a killer and prevents homicides from taking place. The police respect her skills and call her for help.

Freelance TV journalist Mohnish, who also owns a garage, a photo studio, and a flower shop, learns of Sonia's abilities. He is a mysterious figure who appears and disappears from her life without explanation. Sonia believes he is her secret admirer who keeps sending her bouquets until she realizes a legendary jewel thief has taken a special interest in her, a person who was a client she thought quite attractive.

THE COSMIC CLUES is a one of a kind novel that readers will find charmingly original. The use of the Hindu horoscope as a tool to aid in solving crimes comes across as reasonable and plausible. The heroine grows in stature with each case she solves so by the end of the book readers will accept her as a first class private investigator. Her relationship with Mohnish develops into a friendship that hints at future romance as well as the Cat fixated on Sonia showing up in subsequent tales. Though a table setter story line, this is still a fine refreshing novel.

Harriet Klausner

This book is truly fascinating as it opens the doors to the world about Hindu astrology. It is also based in a place where not many people visit as tourists which makes the reader to know more about the place itself. I loved this book and would like to recoment to anyone who would like a decent novel.

THE COSMIC CLUES is a really unique combination of brain-racking mysteries and plots, well-developed characters, humour and a fantastic setting! Not to miss the dash of romance underlying the whole book, neatly tied together with a cat and 'The Owl'! A must-read for all, not only "mystery mongers" but readers of all kinds. I look forward to reading next books in the Cosmic Series.
Brent, UK.

Very enjoyable mystery with a Vedic Astrological twist... Sonia lives in Pune India, solving mysteries while interpreting clients and suspects horoscopes... Adding to the intrigue is a handsome news reporter & a mysterious jewel thief... With her recently acquired cat Nidhi, and right hand man, Jatin, she dances her way through the cosmic clues, listening to her favorite music and trusting her instincts.... Sonia tackles simple domestic cases to baffling murders... weaving her way to unexpected solutions... If you enjoy exotic women sleuths this book is for you...Pour yourself a cup of chai, sit back and enjoy!

Most of the mass-market paperback mystery fiction shelved in our bookstores was written by American authors. Their characters live in the United States because the authors do. After all, there are a lot of authors in the US.

Of those not set in one of the 50 United States, I'd say a majority of the remainder are set in England. England is unarguably the traditional home of the "cozy mystery".

So The Cosmic Clues comes as a surprise and a treat -- both the author, Manjiri Prabhu, and her protagonist, Sonia Samarth, live in Pune, India.

I've never been to India. I've visited the UK as well as parts of Ireland, Germany, Denmark, and Finland. From a reading point of view, I'm most familiar with the contemporary US and Great Britain. I know more about Regency England than I do about modern-day India.

So, it was fun for me to "visit" Sonia Samarth and her assistance Jatin at the newly opened Stellar Investigations Detective Agency in Pune. Sonia uses keen insights, intuition, and horoscopes, based on Vedic Astrology, to solve crimes.

Sonia is personable and her cases are interesting and varied. The venue is, for me, exotic and interesting. Manjiri Prabhu makes the city of Pune come alive with descriptions of the food and clothing, the street vendors selling coconuts, the traffic, the weather, and Sonia's tastes in music. The book covers half a year, during which Sonia and Jatin celebrate Indian Independence Day and the festival of Diwali. And, of course, I personally like the cat who waltzes into the agency in the first chapter and helps Sonia get her first case!

This isn't a deep or complex book. The tone is light and friendly. Sonia never goes out alone to confront a murderer, risking life and limb for the case.

If you're looking for a gritty, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller, you won't find it here. What you will find is a cast of friendly, likeable characters in a series of mystery-solving vignettes, taking place somewhere other than the typical US-published locales. Treat yourself to cup of chai and a visit to the Stellar Investigations Detective Agency.

One of my favorite genres for fiction reading is mysteries.

I never read for pleasure as a child. I liked playing with toys indoors or running, jumping, swinging, climbing, creating, and exploring outdoors instead. I began my fiction reading for pleasure as a teenager and I started it with mystery novels. I have my local public library to thank for my love of mystery novels: some industrious librarian printed up a hand-out of recommended mystery novelists on a book mark. Due to that book mark I started with a very broad exposure to all types of mystery writers and continued by myself long after I finished reading novels and stories by the writers on the list. The one limit on my reading has been that the mysteries must have been published in English and available in the bookstores in the United States.

I mentioned the above because I find this novel, "The Cosmic Clues", to be unique in my experience of reading mystery writers. I have read mysteries with asian detectives before but never one written by someone native to and living in Asia (India). So "The Cosmic Clues" is something very new for US readers: a book about an Indian detective (private investigator) written completely from the point of view of a native of India. This is the East, not a westernized version of it.

The novel contains a series of mysteries solved by the heroine, using her powers of deduction and observation along with her knowledge of Vedic Astrology (which is not the same as the Astrology familiar to most US citizens). The heroine, Sonia, is a modern fiesty young woman with a young male assistant, Jatin, who also has a modern point of view regarding his female boss. Both Sonia and Jatin are well drawn characters. Another star of the novel is the cat Nidhi. If Nidhi was real, I would run right out and adopt her!

The mysteries solved are not terribly complex or baffling. What is outstanding about this novel is the setting, the language, and the cultural differences that would never be used in a mystery novel set in India written by a non-Indian. The author gives us a very thorough exposure to everyday life in modern India.

One immediately notices that the language in the novel, the sentence construction, the usage of verbs, and the capitalization of certain nouns are all quite different than what would be found in something written by a US or UK mystery writer or even a mystery novel translated into English. The language, though English, is a very different flavor of English than Europeans and Americans are used to.

The descriptions of Pune are alluring. We learn about vehicles, traffic patterns and streets in Pune, housing in the various neighborhoods in the Pune area and tourist attractions in Pune. The author's words build in our mind a full and colorful picture of Pune.

The author's novel includes descriptions of dress/costume in India (both traditional and modern)and descriptions of furnishings in offices and homes. One mystery solved involves a traditional marriage ceremony in India which is described. Indian food, restaurants, and street vendors are described. Descriptions of music, traditional and modern, are included. The novel covers nearly one full year so the reader is exposed to the celebration of special days and events during a year in India.

Reading this novel is like making an extended stay in Pune, India. The reader is a welcome visitor to someone's home in India, not a guest in some westernized hotel in India.

The author wisely ends her novel with an unsolved "mystery" so the reader will return to visit the charming Sonia in Pune...in "The Astral Alibi".

Sonia Samarth has set up her detective agency in Pune, India, using the principles of astrology to give her insights into the characters of her suspects. Even in an India where most everyone has had their birth chart done, people are skeptical of Sonia's use of astrology to solve crimes. It takes some time, as well as several successful cases, before she can show that her methods work.

I enjoyed the old Agatha Christie format of a main plot with smaller mysteries solved in each couple of chapters as the book moves along.

The horoscopes used in Sonia's method are set up differently than the circular charts to which I am accustomed, but by the end of the book, I could follow her square charts with numbers for the astrological signs, and the ascendant at the top of the chart, pretty well.

All in all, an enjoyable read. The customs and locales may be exotic, but people are people, and crime is crime, the world around. Besides, you have to like Sonia's attitude and her willingness to act on her beliefs.