[Inspector Gowda 01] • A Cut-Like Wound

"Nair writes big, brave descriptions of one brutal murder after the next,

relentlessly describing each death even as sub-inspector Santosh loses his

breakfast over them."--"Time Out"

It's the first day of Ramadan in heat-soaked Bangalore. A young man begins to

dress: makeup, a sari, and expensive pearl earrings. Before the mirror he is

transformed into Bhuvana. She is a "hijra," a transgender seeking love in the

bazaars of the city.

What Bhuvana wants, she nearly gets: a passing man is attracted to this

elusive young woman--but someone points out that Bhuvana is no woman. For

that, the interloper's throat is cut. A case for Inspector Borei Gowda, going

to seed, and at odds with those around him including his wife, his colleagues,

even the informers he must deal with. More corpses and Urmila, Gowda's ex-

flame, are added to this spicy concoction of a mystery novel.

Most intriguing is the grim world of Bhuvana. Her "hijra" fantasies, emotions,

and hopes are etched in a way that is chilling yet oddly touching. Some

mysteries remain till almost the end, for instance Bhuvana's connection with

the wealthy, corrupt Corporator Ravikumar, who lives in a mansion as grand as

the Mysore Palace and controls whole districts of Bangalore.

Anita Nair lives in Bangalore and is a prize-winning author. Her novel "Ladies

Coupe," published in the United States by St. Martin's Press, is a feminist

classic which has been translated in thirty languages all over the world. This

is her first crime novel.