Decent debut mystery novel, pretty close to the Vicky Bliss books by Elizabeth Peters. In fact, one plot twist reveals something about a character that seems to be a direct connection to the Vicky Bliss series. ( )

Fun and interesting read about a historian named Jones not the archaeologist Jones. I liked the characters, and the mystery and the background information about Scottish Fairies and Indian Treasure
Can't wait to start book 2. ( )

I'm giving this 4 stars out of sheer joy. Jaya Jones is a historian who specializes in the East India Company and the British Raj. (Actually, she'll tell you, she can talk about India from 1757-1947 with ease.) So she isn't completely surprised when an old boyfriend sends her an antique Indian bracelet in the mail and asks for her help. What does surprise her is that she finds out he was killed on the very day he mailed the bracelet to her. With help from a grad student with a mysterious past, Jaya follows the mysterious treasure to Scotland where she becomes the target of a killer.

I had so much fun reading this book. First, Jaya is a full-blown, well fleshed out character. She practically leaped off the page. She's mixed race (Southern Indian and Berkeley Hippie American) and she often feels she doesn't fit in with either culture. She plays the tabra drums with her friend Sanjay (the Hindi Houdini and a not so great sitar player) to relax and likes to eat peanut butter on her scrambled eggs and pickles on her peanut butter sandwiches. It was so easy to fall into this book alongside Jaya because she was so alive.

The mystery was good. I did figure out whodunnit but I honestly had no idea about so many of the twists and turns behind any of it. This book was great fun. ( )

I received this book from the Goodreads first reads program.

What a fun read!

[a:Gigi Pandian|4750529|Gigi Pandian|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1337181271p2/4750529.jpg] writes with a quick wit, a loving attention to the eccentricities of the anthropological trades, and a keen eye for history. She wrapped the history of British India up with snippets of Scotland and even a bit of San Francisco culture quite well. Classic treasure hunt, classic adventure tale, classic mystery... what's not to love?

Indeed, this book did bring to mind Indiana Jones, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to more in this series. Great fun, and a perfect book to while away the hours. I'm quite glad I had a chance to read it. ( )

Nice main character. Need to know more of her history/backstory. Good mystery. Motives of some of the secondary characters kind of weak. Worth a second book. ( )