Uzma Jalaluddin introduced Kausar Khan with the first mystery in the series, Detective Aunty. Kausar has endured many tragedies in her lifetime, including the recent death of her husband, Hassan, and decades ago, the hit and run death of her 13 year-old son, Ali. The driver was never found, leaving Kausar in a perpetual state of grief.
Kausar’s empathy for others, in addition to her sharp eye and keen ability to ferret out lies, make her stand out, but only recently has she begun to use those skills to solve crimes. In Detective Aunty, Kausar had to prove her daughter, Sana, innocent when she was charged with murder. This time, Kausar’s granddaughter, Maleeha, asks for help. When a young teen, Qasim, is found dead near a pond on the school’s grounds, the authorities rule the death as a suicide , possibly from a drug overdose. Maleeha, who was close to Qasim, says Qasim would never take his own life and he never did drugs. Despite misgivings from Sana, Kausar agrees to help.
After Ali died, Kausar moved to North Bay, unable to stay in Toronto. After Sana was arrested, Kausar came to Toronto to live in her daughter’s house and take care of her two granddaughters. She’s now moved into her own condo in Toronto, a change that has upset Sana. Kausar had an arranged marriage with Hassan, who was 15 years older. But the relationship grew into one with respect and, yes, love. Now, however, Kausar wants to discover some of the independence she never had as a stay at home wife and mother. It’s common knowledge that Nasir, a divorced attorney, would like to marry Kausar, but she is reluctant to jump into another marriage so soon.
Still, when Kausar needs help, Nasir is always there. And she will need help from him, as well as from her good friend, May, who lives in North Bay, but comes to visit when Kausar tells her about Qasim’s death. What Kausar keeps from others is that she’s trying to discover what really happened to Ali the night he died.
Qasim was a standout student at the local Golden Crescent school, particularly for his poetry. Kausar agrees to attend a meeting of the poetry group with Maleeha so she can witness up close some of Qasim’s friends. The session, ostensibly to celebrate Qasim’s life, quickly spirals out of control, leaving Kausar with many leads to follow up.
The untimely death of another youth pushes Kausar to look into Ali’s death. She visits the police station to tell Constable Ilyas Marjani of the Toronto Police that she is looking into Qasim’s death. But when she asks to see reports involving Ali’s death, he resists. Even though she helped him during Sana’s case, he’s reluctant to have her get involved again. As far as Ilyas is concerned, Ali’s death was a hit and run, while Oasim died by suicide. But he needs Kausar on his side. Sana was his high school sweetheart and he still regrets having arrested her. Now he’s trying very hard to get back into her good graces.
Kausar, however, is not about to be deterred when she’s on a mission. And once she turns up evidence that the two deaths may be related, she goes full steam ahead.
Uzma Jalaluddi’s Kausar is a delightful character. The author’s descriptions of the clothing, food, and quotations from the Quran, give us fascinating information about the Muslim community in Toronto. And we know from the ending of Moonlight Murder, there’s more in store for Detective Aunty in the third installment of this successful series.
Moonlight Murder
Uzma Jalaluddin
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Top Bigstock photo by Dean Drobot
