Virtual Book Tour - Dharma: A Rekha Rao Mystery by Vee Kumari

I am happy to share with you a book, unlike any other book that you have read. Lately, I find myself reading more fiction, and I wanted to share a unique book, Dharma: A Rekha Rao. I was very fascinated with the synopsis of the book and felt that my readers would enjoy it. Below I have included information about Dharma and share the Question and Answer discussion with Vee Kumari. Let me know your thoughts when you finish this book.

“A polished, confident whodunit brimming with personality and the right amount of intrigue and mayhem.” – Kirkus Reviews

         Paperback: 302 pages

         Publisher: Great Life Press (March 2020)       

About the Book:

Rekha Rao, a thirty-something Indian American professor of art history, is disillusioned by academia and haunted by the murder of her father. She believes police convicted the wrong person and moves away from her match-making family. 

She’s focused on managing her PTSD and healing her heart, broken by an abusive boyfriend. She gets entangled in a second murder, that of her mentor and father figure. The murder weapon, an idol of the Hindu goddess Durga, is left behind on the body. Detective Al Newton asks her to look into the relationship, if any, between the meaning of the statue and the motive for the murder.

Rekha is attracted to Al but steers clear of him because of her distaste for cops and fear of a new relationship. The two constantly clash, starting a love-hate relationship. Meanwhile, her family sets her up to meet a suitor, an Indian attorney. When police arrest one of her students and accuse her mentor of idol theft, Rekha is left with no other choice but to look for the killer on her own. 

Despite admonitions from Al and bodily harm caused by an intruder, Rekha finds the killer, and in the process, emerges from the cocoon of a protected upbringing to taste the prospect of romance and discover her true identity.

"A murder mystery set against an intriguing backdrop of Indian mysticism and archaeology makes this a very good pick. Dharma, A Rekha Rao Mystery may also provide some readers with a glimpse into the rich religious history of India's gods, rich mythology at least as rich to American readers as the more familiar Greco-Roman gods and goddesses. It's one of the hidden treats that makes this novel an enjoyable read for mystery lovers everywhere." 

- Chanticleer Reviews Rating: 5/5 star

About the Author:

Vee Kumari grew up in India. She loved to read, and often used it to avoid her mother, who might want her to do a chore or two. It was her mother who directed her to use the dictionary to learn the meanings of new words and construct sentences with them. Vee wanted to become an English professor but went to medical school instead.

Upon coming to the US, Vee obtained a doctorate in anatomy. She became a faculty member at the UC Davis Medical Center, where she worked for over 35 years, and later worked for the Keck School of Medicine for five years. Teaching neuroanatomy to medical students became her passion. She published many scientific papers and won several teaching awards. 

Vee Kumari

When she retired in 2012, she took classes from The Gotham Writers' Workshop and UCLA Writers Program. Dharma, A Rekha Rao Mystery is her debut fiction that incorporates her observations on the lives of Indian immigrants and Indian Americans in the US.

Vee lives in Burbank and is also an actor who has appeared in TV shows, including Criminal Minds and Glow, and produced and was the lead in a short film, Halwa, which garnered the first prize in HBO's 2019 Asian Pacific American Visionaries (APAV) contest.

She is at work on her next novel about an Indian immigrant family whose American dream shatters when one of their twin daughters goes missing.

Connect with the Author:

Facebook: @veekumari

Instagram:  @vee6873hollywood

Twitter: @veekumari1

Author website: https://www.veekumari.com

Question and Answer with Vee Kumari

Where did you grow up /live now?

I grew up in the south of India in a coastal town called Trivandrum. I now live in Burbank, CA

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I loved words, and I wanted to be an English professor.  

 When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Or what first inspired you to write?

As a scientist, my fall back was reading fiction. When I retired, it gave me the time to try it.  

What inspired your story?

I watched an OPRAH/Dr. PHIL an episode about a family who came to get help after the father came to the realization that he was always gay. Their genuine grief and need to find their way back as a family touched me. It’s best to keep this under cover since this is one of the threads that’s revealed only towards the end!

How does a new story idea come to you? Is it an event that sparks the plot or a character speaking to you?

All of those. I may hear something on the news or watch an episode of a TV show, or watch a movie, and my head gets filled with “What Ifs”. Some of these take life, others don’t. Right now, I have my second novel almost finished, and several premises written, based on these “What Ifs”.