My Favorite Book?

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with a book club in New Hampshire. The members were well read, enthusiastic, and attentive. They asked thoughtful questions, and everyone contributed to a lively discussion. But one question, at the end, startled me. The question? Do you have a favorite book?

After more than twenty-five years of talking about writing and books to different kinds of audiences, you would think I’d have heard every question a listener could ask, and that I’d be ready for any surprises. But you’d be wrong on both counts. The answer, however, was easy.

Yes, I have a favorite book—the one that has just come out, this year or last year or next year. And right now that book is When Krishna Calls, the fourth Anita Ray mystery.

Early one morning, before Hotel Delite is abuzz with foreign guests, a worker finds a strange child sleeping in the hotel compound. Anita recognizes the child as the daughter of a sometime worker for the hotel, Nisha. Soon afterward the police come looking for the woman, to question her about the stabbing death of her husband. Anita refuses to believe that Nisha had anything to do with her husband’s death, but she is then faced with evidence that Nisha and her husband were involved with unscrupulous moneylenders.

Anita is drawn into the search for Nisha when she discovers a message left for her inside her camera. Before Anita knows it, the threat that led to one man’s death becomes a threat to her own family. And there is no guarantee that she and Auntie Meena will be spared.

When Krishna Calls is available for pre-order on Amazon or through Five Star/Gale, Cengage.

I’m giving away ARCs (uncorrected proof copies) to two people who comment on this blog, to be chosen at random by my lab-mix Rob. The dog will be asked to respond to the names as I read them out. (Since he spends so much of his time watching me work, I thought I'd give him a chance to contribute.)

http://www.amazon.com/When-Krishna-Calls-Anita-Mystery/dp/1432832255