We’ve all got an Indian Aunty - whether you’re Indian or not. These are the women who helped bring you up, who fed you and nurtured you and sent you off to school on the days your mum was at work. They also have an uncanny knack for getting into your business, unravelling your deepest secrets and generally interfering with every corner of your life.
Bertie Wooster was plagued by strong minded aunts and it’s not a stretch to imagine that Wodehouse was similarly plagued. However, we never got to hear about it from the aunt’s point of view. Growing up, and being bought up, by a rich tapestry of Indian Aunties, and in parallel developing a growing love of genre fiction - especially crime - is where the idea for Mrs Sidhu began to crystallise. The aunty skillset: a sharp eye for detail, a good instinct for human behaviour, doggedness, a strong moral compass and quite simply nosiness seemed like offered itself up as a great fit for an updated amateur sleuth. She’s since been described as Slough’s answer to Miss Marple.
Let’s tackle that location. I grew up in the area and Slough hits a resonance for most British people. Or maybe that’s an anti-resonance. On the musical scale of British towns it seems to strike a bum note. I feel like it gets a bum rap. It’s an industrial town, full of industrious people. Its biggest crime is that it’s not an architectural gem. Then again, aesthetics were not the first priority for a generation of immigrants arriving in the 60’s and 70’s.
The interesting thing about Slough is what’s around it. This concrete dog poop is laid on the gentle pastures that house Windsor Castle, Eton College, Cookham and the Chiltern hills. So, an Indian Aunty from Slough, nosing around in the business of the rich and well heeled of Berkshire. You can see how it all came together from the world around me.
“Mrs Sidhu’s Just Desserts” is the second novel in the series. The first “Mrs Sidhu’s Dead and Scone” plunges her into the world of occult activities at a Wellness retreat in a quaint Berkshire village. This second novel brings a new challenge; an art heist.
Art heists have always fascinated us. Witness the global intrigue around the recent theft from the Louvre in Paris. And the shock caused by the raid that deprived the Oslo art museum of ‘The Scream’. The criminals there simply walked in and took it off the wall!
In fiction, art heists usually have a bit more finesse. Acrobatic thieves dangle from cables to circumvent laser beams, thermal sensors and pressure pads. In “Just Desserts” Mrs Sidhu caters a swish gallery opening where a painting is stolen in an impossible heist and her favourite waitress is murdered in the process. No aunty worth her salted samosas is going to stand for that, and our hero sets out seeking the just desserts of the title.
This of course brings her deeper into the world of art. It’s an area that’s a particular challenge for a humble, Slough bred woman. Art, for the uninitiated is a daunting world. Mrs Sidhu is overawed from the start. The other wonderful thing about the art world, is that it’s divisive, entertaining and dramatic. Most of all it has larger than life characters doing wild things. Van Gogh slashing at his ear, Tracey Emin unmaking her bed, Damien Hirst bottling up dead animals. Then there are the waspish art critics, the sly dealers and the moneyed collectors. It’s also got the reverse - bound up amateurs daubing out watercolours.That’s great material for a murder mystery thriller and it’s the cast of suspects.
The entertainment value of the suspect ensemble has always felt important to me, almost as entertaining as a great sleuth. “Just Desserts” plunges Mrs Sidhu into the tensions and rivalries of that world. While she is daunted by all this new and unfamiliar world, an Indian aunty is never cowed and in Mrs Sidhu’s case curiosity always wins over fear and her search for justice is too strong to be denied.
I’ve had the somewhat unique pleasure (and privilege) of writing Mrs Sidhu for three different media. She started life on BBC Radio 4’s “Mrs Sidhu Investigates” and moved across to TV with the brilliant Meera Syal playing the lead in both. Now, she’s available in print too. Each medium has its own challenges and opportunities, but in the novels I relished developing her inner voice. It’s been a huge amount of fun. I hope you will agree.
Mrs Sidhu's Just Desserts by Suk Pannu (HarperCollins Publisher) Out Now
It's the most glamorous event of the year. Mrs Sidhu has snagged the contract of her life: the chance to cater the grand opening of Berkshire's new art gallery. But there's horror among the hors d'oeuvres. Then the gallery's star painting is stolen, and Mrs Sidhu's favourite waitress is left dead on the floor. Mrs Sidhu is back for a second helping. Can a widowed, Slough-based caterer take down a ruthless, murderous art thief? She's determined to crack the strangest case of her career and serve up her signature dish: just desserts.
Suk Pannu can be found on Instagram @suk.pannu
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