The Blue Bar

Blue Mumbai Thriller, Book 1

By: Damyanti Biswas

Narrated by: Sneha Mathan

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

On the dark streets of Mumbai, the paths of a missing dancer, a serial killer, and an inspector with a haunted past converge in an evocative thriller about lost love and murderous obsession.

After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.

Thirteen years later, Tara’s lover, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, is still grappling with her disappearance as he faces a horrifying new crisis: on the city’s outskirts, women’s dismembered bodies are being unearthed from shallow graves. Very little links the murders, except a scattering of blue sequins and a decade’s worth of missing persons reports that correspond with major festivals.

Past and present blur as Arnav realizes he’s on the trail of a serial killer and that someone wants his investigation buried at any cost. Could the key to finding Tara and solving these murders be hidden in one of his cold cases? Or will the next body they recover be hers?

©2022 Damyanti Biswas (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Narrator Sneha Mathan's strong performance transports listeners to the streets of Mumbai… Mathan's narration is spot-on. She creates believable male and female characters, in particular clearly differentiating key characters as the plot moves between the present and the past. Her authentic-sounding accents and pronunciation of Indian names and phrases help to set the scene and create the perfect atmosphere for this intriguing mystery.”—AudioFile Magazine

“Sneha Mathan narrates this compelling mystery, authentically pronouncing Indian names and lending gravity to the story. Mathan captures the rhythm and cadence of each character, bringing out the diversity of castes, regional dialects, and accents that mark Mumbai society. A lot of action, a bit of romance, and a complex plot make this a good choice…to branch out from typical fare.”—Library Journal

“Meticulous local color matches sensitive characterizations, including of brave Mumbai police who try to overcome the deadly hazards of the corrupt system they have to work in. This searing portrait of marginalized people struggling for survival is unforgettable.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Bar girls found dead

Arnav became a policeman after his sister’s suicide. He wanted to help investigate murder cases by bringing closure to family members. Currently Arnav is investigating the Aksa beach case where dead bodies were found in a construction site.
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Fourteen years ago Arnav dated a bar girl named Tara. After two years she disappeared. While investigating this case Arnav couldn’t help being reminded of Tara and how she wore blue sequins on her outfit the same findings in this case.
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Arnav’s childhood friend and mentor Shinde is also the senior inspector on this case. He’s always had an opinion about Arnav’s interest in Tara.
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Nandini is Arnav’s girlfriend. She’s a journalist researching women regarding the reopening of bars.
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The Blue Bar is about a cold case crime that police weren’t aware of until bodies were found during that construction site.
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This is my first book by Damyanti Biswas. This was my prime reads selection of the month. Without knowing what I was reading I invested in the audiobook. I must admit having the audiobook allowed me to give this book a chance. I enjoy the crime aspect of the story and the writing is great, but it not working for me. I can’t find that smooth rhythm where all the components and parts sync together. For me there’s a writing barrier in the way it’s written. It doesn’t help that it’s written in a part of the world I’m unfamiliar with and the names of the characters is a huge distraction for me.
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Narrator:
Sneha Mathan is the solo female performer of The Blue Bar. I listened using the audible app at 2.2X speed. This is an unabridged audiobook. This is the perfect companion audiobook for listeners who want to follow along with the ebook.
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This was a challenging audiobook to listen to. Arabic is a Semitic language which I’m grateful to Sneha Mathan for reading in her native tongue as I wouldn’t have been able to pronounce the names in this book. The police procedures are uniquely different in this country than the US making this difficult for me to ascertain between what is right or wrong. For an only English speaking person it was essential as a listener to have a performer who could read these words the way they were intended to be heard.
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I did find the language a barrier in my ability to concentrate on the key aspects of the murder investigation. I’m thankful for the narrator was improving my experience with this book.

Perfectly Woven

I appreciate the authenticity of the narration voice descriptions putting me right in The Blue Bar ease dropping on all the different movements. Loved it and recommend this read to anyone! - Vanessa Hollis

Great Storyline

This well -written mystery kept me reading late into the night this weekend and I loved it! I can’t remember ever reading a mystery set in India, so I really enjoyed the glimpse into a foreign land! This story contains inner-office politics, cold murder cases, mysterious disappearances, and regrets of a long lost love. It unfolds through multiple timelines and points-of-view, including the perspective of the unknown murderer. Somewhere along the way I started figuring a few things out, and that only added to my enjoyment of this mystery! I will definitely be reading book 2 when it comes out later in 2023! I often combine both reading and listening to a book. However, I recommend just reading this one. I personally found the accent to be confusing when saying the names of the characters. With so many characters with similar sounding names, I found the audio version to be quite confusing.

My thanks to @damyantig  @amazonpublishing @letstalkbookspromo for my digital copy. (I bought the audio version myself.) My thoughts are my own.

Not your usual Detective story.

I like this because the whole book took place in India about which I know very little. it was a great introduction to Mumbai and police detectives there.

ok

The story was a little underwhelming and slow at times. Sneha's narration as always was on point.

engaging thriller, kept on edge

Great narrator, griping story that pulled me in from page one. Especially enjoyed the twists that kept coming right to the end.

New favorite author & narrator

Amazing thrille with great twists. Fantastic author & phenomenal narrator. Caffy wait to read/listen to more.

uiuy yummy

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Gripping Thriller with Romantic Subtext

I follow the author Damyanti Biswas on social media and enjoy her posts about her writing life. I also enjoyed her debut novel You Beneath Your Skin. So, I pre-ordered this novel. I started out reading the physical book, but got a little bogged down in all the names and places. Then, I saw that it was out on audible and added it to my library. Hearing the narrator Sneha Mathan read this gripping story brought it to life. I really enjoy listening to the audio of books with words, names and places that are foreign to me. I like hearing how it’s pronounced. Mathan gives each character a distinct voice and adds to the drama of the story with her inflection. She was a great choice for this novel. I was a little nervous about the crime, a serial killer who targets young women and dismembers them, and it was a bit graphic, especially at the beginning, but then I got into the story of the characters and their relationships, and I was hooked. I really wanted to know what happened to Tara and how Inspector Arnav was going to solve this crime and help her, too. Towards the end of the book, I didn’t want to stop listening. I had to find out what happens! Bonus: learning more about India, Mumbai, and cultural nuances. Also, bringing to light the need to fight harder to end crimes against women all over the world. This is the first book in a series that Biswas is writing. I’m looking forward to the next one.

Not as interesting as expected

Don't waste your credit on this one. It sounds like a very interesting murder mystery and colorful setting, but the story is barely adequate to keep one's interest, and not enough is written of the potentially fascinating setting around the story. I gave up two thirds of the way in. The problem is made worse by the difficulty the female narrator has distinguishing the male voices. The many characters and names add to the confusion as this is a dialogue heavy book.