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The murder mystery that changed the rules of the game

India, Sept. 15 -- "Mrs Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September - a Thursday." The opening line of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd isn't dramatic. It is precise and factual. But when Agatha ... Read More


Why the world's best coffee shop isn't in Melbourne

New Delhi, Aug. 29 -- For years, one assumption ruled when it came to specialty coffee: the world's best cafes existed in the world's best-known coffee cities, be it Melbourne, Tokyo, or Copenhagen. ... Read More


From 'Crooked House' to 'Endless Night', atmospheric Agatha Christie novels that deserve a second read

New Delhi, Aug. 29 -- I love a good Agatha Christie as much as anyone. I still return to the big ones-Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, Death on the Nile-for their ingenious plot... Read More


Sweet bookstores in Alabama

India, Aug. 26 -- I was walking through downtown Mobile, Alabama, when I spotted The Haunted Book Shop. It was closed for the evening, but the name stayed with me. I went back the next morning and fou... Read More


The world can't get enough of Panem

India, Aug. 19 -- Fifteen years after Katniss Everdeen walked out of the arena, readers are still walking back into Panem. When Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins's latest return to her dystopia... Read More


Remembering the American who built Baroda's library network

India, Aug. 12 -- Long before the rest of India had even begun to imagine a modern public library system, the princely state of Baroda (now Vadodara) was already in the middle of a quiet revolution. I... Read More


You can ship Lonavala chikki or Agra petha, but can they carry a sense of place?

New Delhi, Aug. 7 -- As an army kid, summer holidays rarely meant choosing between beaches and mountains. The road usually led to two places-maternal or paternal grandparents' home-where cousins, long... Read More


The Alabama bookseller who reads before he recommends

India, Aug. 4 -- I notice the books before I notice the man. They don't sit shoulder to shoulder in long rows of spines. Every cover faces out, an unusual way to arrange a bookstore. But Jake Reiss h... Read More


These are Glasgow's best Indian restaurants

New Delhi, July 30 -- Scotland is known for whisky, salmon, shortbread, and haggis, a savoury pudding made of sheep's offal, mixed with oats, suet, onion, and spices. In Glasgow, though, curry belongs... Read More


Agatha Christie's most overlooked detectives

India, July 29 -- "Tommy, old thing!" "Tuppence, old bean!" A chance meeting on a London Tube platform sets the stage for one of Agatha Christie's most enduring detective partnerships. Thomas Beresf... Read More