Pirate Vishnu (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery)

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by Pandian, Gigi


  Naveen’s mouth hung open as he watched the dean leave.

  “Sorry I don’t have time to stay and chat, Naveen. There’s somewhere I need to be.”

  Chapter 60

  Nadia poured me a glass of gin, getting a vodka for herself.

  “Why don’t you tell me about him,” she said.

  “Uncle Anand?”

  Nadia snorted. “You’ve already told me about him. No, I mean you should tell me about the man who is confusing you so.”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “You have a look about you.”

  “It’s complicated.” I took a large swig of the gin.

  “Life is always complicated, Jaya. If you wait for it to be simple, your whole life will pass you by.”

  “Why did you leave Russia?” I had never asked Nadia the question before, though I had often wondered. She spoke so little of her life before she came to San Francisco.

  “That was another lifetime ago.” She paused and twirled her drink in her hand, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. “It is the future we should think of. This man in your life—is it the art historian you met earlier this summer?”

  “Maybe.”

  “How can the answer be maybe? If you do not wish to tell me, you can say so.”

  “But that’s not what I mean. I do mean maybe. He and I shared something—and still do—but then…” I thought of Sanjay’s kiss. “Then things got complicated.”

  Nadia nodded and topped off my gin.

  Sanjay was waiting for me outside my door when I got upstairs from Nadia’s house. He sat on the top step doing card tricks, his bowler hat resting askew on his head.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t let yourself in,” I said.

  “You asked me not to.”

  “Come on in,” I said, smiling to myself as I read a piece of mail Nadia had just handed to me.

  “There’s one thing I’m still not clear on,” Sanjay said. “What ever happened to that guy I saw at the hospital in Trivandrum?”

  “It’s a long story,” I said.

  “But who is he?”

  “He left me a note,” I said, holding up the slip of paper that had been left with my mail in a sealed envelope bearing only my name.

  “A handwritten note? Can’t he email or use the phone like a normal person?”

  “You want to take me to get a new phone today? My car is still impounded.”

  “Fair enough,” Sanjay said, deftly plucking the note from my hand and reading it aloud.

  Jones,

  I need to lie low for a while, but I don’t expect you’ll let me stay away.

  I should have seen the truth about your uncle as soon as you told me he called himself Pirate Vishnu. Vishnu restores order, which is exactly what Anand was trying to do. His legacy is safe.

  L

  “Damn,” said Sanjay. “Whoever he is, he’s a better Indian than either of us.”

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Pirate Vishnu is a work of fiction. Though both the treasure and characters came from my imagination, the story is based on a real historical backdrop.

  I was inspired to write this book after hearing a family legend about one of the first members of the Indian side of my family to come to the United States. He was said to have died in the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918 in Pennsylvania. Not everyone in the family thought that was what really happened to him. What if they were right?

  Several years ago, when I was traveling through the state of Kerala, India, I discovered an interesting—and very true—parallel between San Francisco and Kochi (Cochin), which is the connection Jaya makes in Pirate Vishnu. That’s where I got my initial idea for this book.

  Over the centuries, the trading port of Kochi was home to many artisans who created artifacts and traded in wood and stone-carvings. Historically, India’s southwest coast was a cosmopolitan area in general. Various religious and ethnic groups traded in spices, textiles, and other commodities, and there were many Arab and Christian settlements. Young men like Anand Paravar came under the influence of egalitarian and nationalistic ideas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the authorities did not always tolerate the involvement of workers in nationalistic activities. It was not uncommon for young men to seek work on ships or in regions of India under the political control of the French or the British.

  In the 1800s, a spiritualism craze swept through Europe and the United States, inspiring spirit cabinet performances and more intimate séances. Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the people who became a believer and magician Harry Houdini was one of the people who worked to debunk spiritualists.

  The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 caused the loss of many city records as well as the deaths of an unknown number of people and the displacement of thousands more. The history of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast area recounted in Pirate Vishnu is true, including the use of ships abandoned during the Gold Rush, but the saloon Anand frequented is a fictional composite of similar existing establishments.

  READER’S DISCUSSION GUIDE

  1. Chapters set in the past are interspersed with the present-day main storyline. How do details of the people and events in the past enhance the story?

  2. The idea for Pirate Vishnu was based on family lore. Do you have any family history you think would make a good mystery?

  3. Pirate Vishnu begins shortly after Artifact ends. Jaya’s relationships are developing with old friends and new. Did you have a favorite character? Why?

  4. What surprised you about the history of India and San Francisco?

  5. Academia is competitive, especially as scholars begin their careers. Do you think Jaya is handling the pressure better than her colleague Naveen?

  6. Jaya’s love life takes an unexpected turn she didn’t see coming. What do you think will happen in the future with the men in her life?

  About Gigi Pandian

  Gigi Pandian is the child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India. After being dragged around the world during her childhood, she tried to escape her fate when she left a PhD program for art school. But adventurous academic characters wouldn’t stay out of her head. Thus was born the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series. The first book in the series, Artifact, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant. Learn more at www.gigipandian.com.

  In case you missed the 1st book in

  The Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series

  ARTIFACT

  Gigi Pandian

  A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery (#1)

  Historian Jaya Jones discovers the secrets of a lost Indian treasure may be hidden in a Scottish legend from the days of the British Raj. But she’s not the only one on the trail…

  From San Francisco to London to the Highlands of Scotland, Jaya must evade a shadowy stalker as she follows hints from the hastily scrawled note of her dead lover to a remote archaeological dig. Helping her decipher the cryptic clues are her magician best friend, a devastatingly handsome art historian with something to hide, and a charming archaeologist running for his life.

  Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon

  CLICK FOR ARTIFACT

  Be sure to check out Jaya’s prequel novella

  FOOL’S GOLD featured in

  OTHER PEOPLE’S BAGGAGE

  Kendel Lynn, Gigi Pandian, Diane Vallere

  Baggage claim can be terminal. These are the stories of what happened after three women with a knack for solving mysteries each grabbed the wrong bag.

  MIDNIGHT ICE by Diane Vallere: When interior decorator Madison Night crosses the country to distance herself from a recent breakup, she learns it’s harder to escape her past than she thought, and diamonds are rarely a girl’s best friend.

  SWITCH
BACK by Kendel Lynn: Ballantyne Foundation director Elliott Lisbon travels to Texas after inheriting an entire town, but when she learns the benefactor was murdered, she must unlock the small town’s big secrets or she’ll never get out alive.

  FOOL’S GOLD by Gigi Pandian: When a world-famous chess set is stolen from a locked room during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, historian Jaya Jones and her magician best friend must outwit actresses and alchemists to solve the baffling crime.

  Read all about it and/or grab the book from Amazon

  CLICK FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S BAGGAGE

  Sign up for the Henery Press email blast,

  we’ll send a short note when the next in this series is released,

  plus all our new mystery titles.

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  (Note: We don’t do a whole big newsletter, just a quick title blast to keep you in the loop, and we won’t share your email address, you can unsubscribe any time.)

  Henery Press Mystery Books

  And finally, before you go...

  Here are a few other mysteries

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