Pirate Vishnu (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Book 2)
By: Gigi Pandian
Rating: 5 of 5
“Pirate Vishnu” is the second in a series of mystery by Gigi Pandian. The series features Jaya Jones, a young Indian-American history professor. I really enjoyed the first book in this series “Artifact” and was hoping the second would be almost as good. Actually, it was even better. This whodunnit chases all over the map from San Francisco to India and back again.
Jaya is once again joined by her friends Lane, Nadia, and Sanjay. Along the way, we get a brief history lesson about San Francisco at the time of the Great Earthquake of 1906, some of the signs of struggle of the Indian people against the British colonial rule, and also about magicians and the “spiritualism” trend of the turn of the last century. In addition to the friends we already know, we get introduced to several new characters that I hope to see in future books – Tamarind the librarian (a kind of goth meets punk lady) and Naveen, an unpleasant fellow professor who is Jaya’s competition for tenure at their university.
The story follows Jaya’s quest for finding the treasure that equals the X marks the spot on a treasure map supposedly written by her ancestor and great-uncle. The map is brought to her one night by Steven Healy who is promptly murdered almost immediately after meeting with Jaya. After that, to quote Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot.
When I read Ms. Pandian’s first book in this series, I was reminded of Elizabeth Peter’s famous sleuth, Amelia Peabody. After reading this book, I am once again reminded of Ms. Peters but this time of one of my favorite sleuths – Vicky Bliss. Jaya is certainly her own character but she has the same intrepid spirit and sense of fun that I have picked up from Ms. Peters characters over the years. When I compare them, I am paying some of the highest respect I can to Ms. Pandian.
The book was a fun and quick read. I enjoyed it very much and recommend it highly. I suggest starting with the first book “Artifact” to get the utmost enjoyment from the read. I am looking forward to reading the soon to be released third book in this series. I also hope that Ms. Pandian writes many more books with this cast of characters. I would like to think of having this much fun reading books for years to come.
“Pirate Vishnu” is the second in a series of mystery by Gigi Pandian. The series features Jaya Jones, a young Indian-American history professor. I really enjoyed the first book in this series “Artifact” and was hoping the second would be almost as good. Actually, it was even better. This whodunnit chases all over the map from San Francisco to India and back again.