Set in British-ruled Kolkata, the novel focuses on a detective-style investigation that unfolds within the political and social complexities of colonial India. A central inquiry—criminal in nature—pressures characters to confront local power structures, cultural differences, and the legal realities of the period.

A country solicitor is drawn into defending a mother and daughter accused of abducting and assaulting a visiting young woman. The plot hinges on assembling testimony, scrutinizing inconsistent claims, and testing how community suspicion and newspaper pressure shape culpability.

Set in a historical social world, the novel focuses on women negotiating marriage, reputation, and intimacy within strict social codes. The central pressure comes from private desires and social constraint: a developing romantic relationship unfolds through constrained public behavior and more candid private exchanges.

A young woman inherits a small private-investigations practice and confronts a suspicious death that forces her to take on a case that tests her competence and moral judgment. The plot focuses on unraveling motive and circumstance through interviews, legwork, and piecing together local relationships.

Set in Laos in the 1970s, an elderly physician with little formal forensic experience is appointed state coroner. He confronts suspicious deaths amid political upheaval and scarce institutional support, and must piece together causes and motives while navigating party politics and local customs.

A pragmatic private investigator in India is drawn into a case when a household servant disappears; the investigation unfolds through interviews, local social detail, and procedural clue-gathering.

A newly placed woman at a secluded country house confronts eerie, inexplicable phenomena tied to the home’s past while she navigates grief, social scrutiny, and household secrets. The book sets up a slow-building collision between domestic routine and uncanny intrusions that heighten psychological strain.

A mystery told through several first-person documents and witness statements: an artist-teacher becomes entangled with a disturbing female figure and a dispute over inheritance and identity.

A young woman from a Chinese-Malaysian community becomes involved in a ghost marriage ritual that asks her to negotiate between family expectations and a claim from the otherworld.

Two twin sisters from the same small town take divergent paths—one remaining close to home, the other leaving and living under a different racial identity—and the novel follows how that split shapes their lives, their families, and the next generation across decades.

A woman linked to an academic community returns to a college where puzzling acts and a climate of fear have erupted; an investigator connected to her seeks to discover who is behind the incidents and why.

A married lesbian couple becomes emotionally distant after one partner returns from a disastrous deep-sea dive. The novel tracks the aftermath: attempts at reconnection, the survivor’s altered presence, and the slow accumulation of dread tied to the sea and loss.