A Karachi Caper

When archaeologist Dr Gulfsa Delani receives a strange phone call in the middle of the night from, of all people, “Deputy Superintendent Farhan Akhtar from the Jackson police station in Keamari”, both she and you, the reader, know you’re in for Something. For you, it’s good; for Gul, not so much. The police have found a mummy in a cave, and Dr Delani is the only person with the expertise to help.

From the first page, Maha Khan Phillips’s resourceful, plucky heroine takes the reins of an absolutely absorbing adventure and does not let go until the very last page. The Museum Detective (Soho Press, 2025) is Phillips’s fourth novel, following several other fascinating romps including The Curse of Mohenjodaro (Nadia goes in search of her archaeologist sister Layla, who has vanished from the excavation site; the story is parallel to another set in 3700 BCE) and YA novel The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby (where twins Taimur and Saif solve a mystery involving a dangerous jewel). Clearly Phillips is a dab hand at constructing taut, thrilling plots that are paced beautifully and weave history and myth together effortlessly. There’s a straightforward, solid nod to proper mystery novels of the past; like Agatha Christie, Phillips’s prose is observant and witty, clear-minded and direct.

There’s no fussing over the sunset and yet we have in Gul Delani a heroine that is complex and interesting, without that dichotomy feeling tedious. She’s tough, but for good reason; she’s tenacious and protective of the underdog and above all, she’s smart. She’s exactly the kind of solid mystery-solving protagonist one likes, in a story that is the same. There are no odd, faintly idiotic coincidences (hello, Dan Brown) that push the plot ahead, or superhuman moments of cognitive brilliance that nobody else on earth save our protagonist could have managed. Much like Poirot or Tintin, Gul Delani is almost mulishly brave, intelligent and determined as hell, and it’s an absolute treat to watch her in action, hurtling around Karachi in her rubbish car, chasing clues and trying not to flee her own demons.

What’s also awfully satisfying is to read a detective story set in Karachi (like several of Omar Shahid Hamid’s books). The novel opens with two maps of the city — another excellent nod to the best books — and as someone who grew up with mystery novels that were so far removed from my own life, The Museum Detective was a doubly enjoyable experience for being familiar.

The Museum Detective hits all the right notes: a bit of archaeology, the top career of choice for every even moderately nerdy eleven-year old; cynical, but trying-to-help policemen; dangerous, shadowy henchmen; a pompous, annoying brother and gruffly loving older friend. If you aren’t convinced by the glowing blurbs on the back of the book, from Kamila Shamsie to Gillian Slovo, be convinced by me: the book is now out in Pakistan with Liberty Books, but I had to hunt it down in London to be able to read it. I saved it for the flight home and opened to the first page on takeoff…and stayed glued to it until it finished, ten minutes before touchdown. I haven’t rocketed through a mystery like that in a long time, and now that you can get your hands on it without having to resort to international book-schlepping, The Museum Detective should most certainly be on your first-books-of-the-year list.

And to sweeten the deal: Dr Delani is set to return in a much-anticipated sequel (you heard it here first!), set in Karachi, feudal Sindh and a fictional Buddhist monastery inspired by the Gondrani Caves. Gul comes across an odd murder and finds herself investigating a claim around reincarnation — I, for one, cannot wait.