About This Book
When Uma moves to Manamadurai, a dismal backwater town, with her husband, Jayan, who has been posted there as the police chief, she is immediately uneasy. Despite its sleepy exterior, there have been undercurrents of communal tension and violence for years. Moreover, Jayan’s predecessor, ASP Manu, dubbed ‘a brute and a reprobate’ by the locals, met a gruesome end, and the aftershocks persist.
Within days of their arrival, Uma’s worst fears come true. A man arrives at Uma and Jayan’s doorstep, holding the severed head of a woman, the jasmine in her braid till intact. This is only the beginning of what turns out to be a long chain of grisly, interlinked events that threaten to destroy Manamadurai’s peace as well as the precarious marital bliss of Uma and Jayan. Meanwhile, there’s a theft at the local zamindar’s house, and a secret long buried by the family is threatening to surface. Uma soon finds herself at the heart of the mystery, as she becomes privy to a covert network of gossip and hearsay. And over this grim tableau, a severe cyclone is brewing.
As Jayan grapples with the ever-widening vortex of fear, suspicion, and criminal behaviour that the murder of the woman has set in motion, Uma joins forces with her husband and makes a startling discovery that breaks the case wide open and leads to the truth. Twisted and ingenious, The Jasmine Murders is a brilliant debut.
Details
- Author
- Roopa Unnikrishnan
- Publisher
- Abney Hall Books
- Release date
- 6 Aug, 2026
- Language
- English
- Type
- Hardcover
- Cover finish
- Matte
- Interior
- Standard Black & White
- Dimensions
- 6 in - 9 in
- Pages
- 277 Pages
About The Author
WINNER OF THE INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD!
Roopa Unnikrishnan bases her books on her research and experience in the business world - where she has been a master coach, an innovation consultant and strategist.
A Rhodes scholar who completed both an MPhil in Economic and Social History and an M.B.A. at the University of Oxford, Unnikrishnan also has a varied extracurricular life, being both a published poet and a world-class athlete in sports riflery. She has captained an Oxford University team and won many medals for her nation in the International arena. In 1999, she received the Arjuna Award from the President of India for her sporting achievements.
Roopa Unnikrishnan builds on almost two decades of experience in roles where she has seeded and driven change and innovation in several Fortune 500 companies. Roopa has worked with Consumer Goods,Education and Technology clients, helping them establish and improve key processes around strategic planning, innovation space identification and idea development. Current clients include Estee Lauder,Johnson & Johnson, Harman Kardon, New York Presbyterian Hospitals, among others.
Roopa started her career with seven years in consulting at Katzenbach Partners LLC (KPL), a New York consultancy where she was part of the early start-up team (1999-2006). Roopa progressed to be Practice Lead, Outsourcing, specializing in issues dealing with strategy development and managing people and innovative technology. Her financial services experience covers credit cards and asset management, as the strategy director at one of Citibank's CitiCards (2006 -2007), and in her time at BlackRock responsible for strategic people efforts in the sales and marketing divisions (2012). Roopa was with Pfizer Inc. for five years, with stints as VP, Corporate Strategy and Global Head of Pfizer's worldwide talent and organizational team for Sales (2007-2012)
