Introducing: About Murder, She Wrote.

Murder mystery reflections, reviews and recommendations from a lifelong fan.

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—particularly, puzzle mysteries that are clever, engaging and play fair with the reader. 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 from the 60s—a true rarity in India) and discovered long-forgotten authors of excellent mysteries that are mostly out of print now.

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

What will you find here?

Recommendations for mystery novels, shows, films, and podcasts. Reflections and analyses of the genre, specific works, and authors. I love the short story as a form, so you’ll also see many anthologies covered here.

What will you not find?

Reviews of true crime, hardboiled thrillers and pulp fiction. They’re just not my ☕️.

A bit of trivia

This newsletter’s name is a tribute to ‘Murder, She Wrote’, an American TV mystery series starring the fabulous Angela Lansbury that ran from 1984 to 1996. The episodes are fun and campy and I remember it fondly. My husband came up with the name and insists that I credit him.