The Masala Chai Mystery Club

Suspects abound when a much-despised neighbor is killed, perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building and Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club.

Retired librarian Neeti Shah was hoping for a restful life with her chai-loving friends, but when the body of a neighbor, a childhood friend of Neeti's, turns up dead and the killer's MO is similar to that of Neeti's most recent book club read, things start to get out of control.

When Neeti hears a commotion at a neighbor's house, she finds Rohit's body sprawled across the bottom of the staircase with Agatha Christie's Dumb Witness nearby. Blackmailing his neighbors, threatening them with lawsuits, and calling them by nasty nicknames were only some of the hateful things that made him so disliked. But were they angry enough to kill?

Neeti is indebted to her old friend, and she's determined to find his killer. But she can't do it alone, so she enlists her mystery-loving friends, the Masala Chai Mystery Club, to get to the bottom of the murder.

But Neeti and her club members need to be careful. As more bodies turn up and more suspects start to appear, they'll need to find the killer before they end up in hot water!

Author: Mj Soni
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Published: 07/21/2026
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
ISBN13: 9798892426091
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Mystery & Detective | Cozy | Books, Bookstores & Libraries
- Fiction | Mystery & Detective | Women Sleuths

About the Author
MJ Soni's short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Akashic Books, and Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories. She penned her memoir, Defying Apartheid, which captures her experiences as a young activist in South Africa, after a writing class at her local community center.

A lifelong fan of Agatha Christie, she now draws upon her love of the culture and cuisine of her diverse Indian, African, and American background to write heartwarming murder mysteries set largely in coastal New England.

She's a recipient of the Leon B. Burstein/MWA-NY Scholarship and a runner-up to the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, a Pitch Wars mentee and mentor, and a member of Crime Writers of Color, Sisters in Crime National, and Sisters in Crime-CT.