Book#244, International Collection, Themes: The Closed Circle Mystery / The False Guru / The Amateur Sleuth / Revenge, Keywords: Yoga Ashram, Bangalore, Guru, Cult, Poisoning, Valium, Amateur Sleuth, Transgender Detective, Revenge, Whodunit, Locked Room Mystery
The Abode of Bliss promised enlightenment. It delivered a corpse.
Hannah Brown, a private investigator with a complicated past and a sharp eye for deception, checks into the Ananda Kuteeram ashram hoping to escape her troubles in Bangalore. Instead, she walks into a crime scene.
Swami Sadananda, the charismatic and beautiful guru, is found bludgeoned to death in his opulent private chamber. The police arrest the obvious suspects: a disgruntled accountant and a grieving local woman. But Hannah sees the cracks in the official narrative. She sees the empty blister packs of Valium hidden in a devotee’s bag. She sees the flicker of recognition between a Russian businessman and a corrupt politician. And she sees the empty tea stall where a witness used to be.
Armed only with her intuition and a stolen laptop, Hannah peels back the layers of the ashram’s serenity to reveal a rot of blackmail, sexual exploitation, and cold-blooded vengeance. In a place where everyone is performing a role, Hannah must determine who is the true believer, who is the victim, and who is the mastermind willing to kill to keep their secrets buried.
(A smart, atmospheric mystery featuring the inimitable Hannah Brown.)
[CONTENT WARNING] Contains themes of: Sexual Assault/Exploitation (depicted via video evidence/backstory), Drugging/Non-Consensual Sedation, Murder/Violence, and Suicide (backstory).
Heat Level (1-5) 2 (Tense / Non-Erotic) There is no romance or erotica. The “heat” comes from the tension of the investigation and the dark themes of the guru’s crimes. The sexual content is relevant to the mystery (blackmail tapes) but is not titillating.