Love a good detective story? Want to discover murder mystery reads beyond the latest bestsellers? Want to kick Kenneth Branagh’s a$$ for completely missing the point of Agatha Christie’s plots? You’re in the right place.

Hello 👋🏼

I am Gowri from Bengaluru, India and I love detective fiction. I read my first murder mystery novel when I was 13 and it was love at first read. In the nearly 25 years since then, I've read hundreds of works of detective fiction.

I particularly enjoy classic puzzle mysteries that are clever, engaging, and fairly clued. I mean the kind where the reader has as good a shot as the detective at solving the mystery. Not the kind where the detective pulls out new clues/information out of the proverbial hat during the big reveal.

I spend a good part of my time in secondhand bookshops, looking for my next read. During these forays, I’ve come across some absolute gems, including yellowing copies of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (EQMM) from the 60s—a true rarity in India!—and long-forgotten authors of darn good mysteries that are mostly out of print now.

I also watch a lot of detective fiction—Midsomer Murders, of course, but also Psych, Vera, Monk, Poirot, Marple and countless others. I hate-watch the movies of Kenneth Branagh and actually like some aspects of Sarah Phelps’ Christie films.

What will you find here?

The genre of detective fiction is vast and fascinating with many sub-genres, lovely prose, fantastic settings, complex characters, insights into human psychology and of course, the art of the ‘whodunit’ puzzle. Most casual readers barely scratch the surface of the riches and as an enthusiast, it pains me to hear people extol Richard Osman’s works as the best of the genre (they are really not, although I am grateful to him for having revived an interest in murder mysteries.)

I started About Murder, She Wrote to share recommendations for mystery books, shows, films, and podcasts beyond the Most Popular/Bestseller lists. I also enjoy writing reflective pieces and analyses of the genre, specific works, and forgotten authors. I love the short story as a form, so you’ll also see many anthologies covered here.

What will you not find?

Conversations about true crime, hardboiled thrillers or pulp fiction. They’re not my ☕️.

What’s with the name of the newsletter?

That is a loving tribute to the fun and campy 80s American TV mystery series Murder, She Wrote, starring the fabulous Angela Lansbury. My husband came up with the name and insists on being credited.