“𝙴𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍.“

Thanks so much to author for this gifted e-copy!

If you are looking for a thrilling mystery full of intrigue and suspense that transports you to a new place and time, look no further.

This story takes you on suspenseful journey through the streets of Mumbai. Love all the cultural details and how cinematic it all feels. A murder mystery and detective thriller with a Bollywood backdrop. @damyantig has definitely delivered a well-written, gritty and immersive read!

I started my reading for 2023 by reading “The Blue Bar” by Damyanti Biswas.

This is the second novel by the author. I had read her first book “You Beneath Your Skin” and found it spectacular as a debut novel. I wondered how this book would compare to that one, because often after a masterpiece, it is difficult to replicate that performance.

The Blue Bar however surpassed expectations. The story kept me gripped.

One thing that I noticed in both the books of this author, is that she takes a lot of trouble over her research. She is not someone who believes in writing a book in 30 days. She takes time and trouble to create something that is really exceptional.

Her characters are never the perfect hero or heroine. They are real life people who make mistakes and have flaws and struggle to make sense of their world which is refreshing.

The story moves with twists and turns and the ending as in her first book is not something you quite expect, but which makes perfect sense.

It is definitely not an easy, pleasant read. There were times I shuddered in horror, even praying that Arnav caught the killer before he killed anyone else. Biswas does not hesitate to write about the evil that actually exists. Hers are not stories, sugarcoated to be made palatable, but raw real life.

The title of the book reads “The Blue Bar (Blue Mumbai Thriller Book 1)” which makes me really happy because that means I can look forward to more books by her.

Bar girls, blue saris…a dangerous world!

A dismembered body found on Madh Island in a disputed protected coastal mangrove forest are to the west of Mumbai opens up a trail of disappred bar girls going back years. Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput is called out to a building site where the workers have just uncovered a torso. Arnav dreads each call out he gets. He fears the body will be Tara, the bar girl he was involved with, who disappeared a decade ago without a trace. The Inspector is ordered to close the case, only he suspects that this is just one of many deaths. He also suspects the undercurrent of corruption is involved. In high places possibly. Confirmed to his mind, when he’s offered a promotion that will take him away from this case.
What we have is a whirlwind trip into the killler’s psychological obsessions, his targets referred to as Items, the involvement of high powered mafia type bosses, corrupt officials and parliamentarians, rich landowners, Bollywood stars, and the disappointment of a friend’s malfeasance.
Meanwhile the Supreme Court of India has ruled that dance bars can be reopened in Mumbai.
In a twist, the former bar dancer Tara, the woman Arnav has never forgotten, the girl he expects to find turning up as a body, has returned to the Blue Bar for a week to choreograph the bar’s dancers.
Now Tara’s become a target for the killer—for the second time! Can Arnav protect her? This time he has much more to lose.
A gritty account of the world of bar girls, the dark corners of the underbelly of the city, the other side of Bollywood and bright lights, the other Mumbai.
A complex novel. It’s easy to become a tad lost. A very rewarding read!

A Thomas & Mercer ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

This exotic thriller taking place in Mumbai started out a little slow as it introduced all the players but once it picked up speed, it never let go with all the twists, bumps, and unexpected turns. Women are being murdered and dismembered, there is political corruption in the police force, a greedy real estate company, and vain socialites and celebrities but underneath the shallowness is an inspector determined to solve the crimes, unearth the truth, and hopefully find the one that got away. I loved the setting and the culture underneath this thriller and the plot itself was so psychologically mind-bending, it was so hard to put this down in the last half!

I was fortunate to have read an early version of this novel. It's a well written mystery with interesting characters, vivid details, and a vibrant locale. Thanks for the opportunity to review.

"In Mumbai, everyone performs for someone else. Everyone comes with a price tag"

The Blue Bar is a fast-paced action thriller set in Mumbai, India. In it we meet Arnav, a police inspector who, while struggling with some serious hurt from his own past, try to do the best he can in solving a potential serial killer case, where everyone (from his superiors to friends) are telling him to let it go. We also meet Tara, a former dance bar girl, returning to Mumbai to work for her seedy boss for one more week, hoping to secure enough funds to put her daughter Pia through private school. Arnav and Tara share a past that rapidly catches up with them in this book....

First things first, I loved to read a thriller set in a city that I am unfamiliar with. The author did an amazing job of having Mumbai come to life on the pages, both the glitz and glam, the (religious) traditions and the yummy foods, as well as the gap between rich and poor, the corruption and the nepotism and the danger those bring to people sticking out their necks. That being said, being unfamiliar with most of the setting, the procedures and the culture, meant it took considerably more effort to follow along with all the names, terms and ultimately, the story. This is on me 100% and not a reason not to pick up this book at all.

Finally, I really enjoyed reading both Tara and Arnav's storylines, as well as the storylines of our unknown serial killer (it is always a pleasure to be in the perp's mind, and this one was no different, with us slowly finding out what triggered them) and their caretaker Bilal. Adding their perspectives made the story even more well-rounded and interesting.

Short synopsis: Police Inspector Arnav Rajput is investigating a series of dismembered bodies found in the outskirts of Mumbai. Tara, a dancer at the Blue Bar and Arnav’s lover appears after disappearing 13 years previously.

My thoughts: I wasn’t sure what to expect when going into this one, but I was sucked right in!

A police procedural where you can’t trust anyone, including other police officers and lifelong friends. We get a glimpse into the gritty underdogs in India, along with the wealthy Bollywood stars. I have never been to India, but I felt like the author did a great job of describing the setting, the food, the smells, and the culture in general.

Each character was so well written I was constantly pointing my finger at who the serial killer could be.

Read this one if you love:
- Crime noir
- Glitz of the wealthy, and struggles of the unfortunate trying to survive
- Multiple POV
- Interesting setting of Mumbai and Indian culture
- Side romance story

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, @katerockbooktours and @NetGalley for the #gifted copy of the book.

This is a must read! This is my first book with a setting in Mumbai, India. The setting was intriguing as it was the seedy slums of the town. I was hooked from the beginning in this fast paced, twisty, crime thriller.

Arnav is a constable and falls in love with a girl named Tara who was a dancer in Mumbai. One day she up and ghosts him. While Arnav is in the middle of an investigating dead bodies that are popping up everywhere. He thinks there is something corrupt going on. After 14 years, Tara returns. Together, they figure out who is murdering all the young women dancing at bars.

I was so excited to hear the author is writing a sequel!!

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Blue Bar is an intense page-turner! I was immediately intrigued when I saw the setting in the description - Mumbai, India. This thriller has an amazing plot, mixed in with police procedural, corrupt politics, and a bit of romance. I really enjoyed the past to present chapters, Arnav and Tara’s POV. I was impressed with the flow of this book and a gratifying ending. Can’t wait to read more from Damyanti Biswas!

I was gifted an e-ARC of this novel from the author after "meeting" her on Instagram. She is super nice and engaging and I was thrilled to be gifted a chance to read her novel early.

I've never read a thriller set in Mumbai before and really don't know much of anything about the area. While I was excited to learn, it was really a struggle to get into the book because of my lack of knowledge of the area and culture. I'm aware that that's fully on me but hope to be able to work to change that

Connecting with authors on Instagram is one of my favorite parts of this community. The moment I saw this book takes place in Mumbai; I was sold on reading it. Plus, it’s a thriller?! So, you know I’m down!

Here’s a quick teaser of book!

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 in 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, with a scattering of blue sequins.

Past and present blur as Arnav realizes he’s on the trail of a serial killer. 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?

◇◇ The Blue Bar is available for pre-order, but you should also add it to your TBR list on Goodreads! Follow @damyantig and go to her bio for the link! ◇◇

I read this one as I traveled! I love reading books that take place outside of the US even more as I travel! I enjoyed reading this novel by Damyanti Biswas, it's gritty and juxtaposed by the glamorous lifestyle some are afforded in India. It's the start to a series which has me excited to keep reading books by Biswas! I loved the romance threads woven into the story and the surprising reveals along the way. I feel like I've become a bit jaded reading thrillers and can be overly harsh. This book reminded me why I love thrillers!

I really enjoyed reading this thriller by Damyanti Biswas. First of all, the setting in Mumbai is highly interesting compared to the more common English-language crime novel settings (in the UK, North America and Australia). But this book has a lot more going for it than its exotic setting. It is a solidly plotted mystery, a police procedural featuring the search for a serial killer. It’s also a haunting romance and a gritty tale of longing, regret, and hope. The key characters are well-developed, with the story presented through two timelines and several POVs. The killer’s identity is kept hidden until late in the book; the killer’s motivation is unusual but believable. The story is suspenseful and fast-paced, leading to a high-wire climax and a satisfying ending. Well done indeed! I can’t wait for the next book by this talented writer.

The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas is a fast-paced police procedural with an intriguing storyline that keeps you engaged and at the edge of your seat until the last page. Without repeating the synopsis which you can obviously read in the book blurb, let me share what I loved about the book. One of my favorite genres is murder mysteries, thrillers, and police procedurals and I know how hard they are to write. I was thrilled to see that Biswas did an excellent job.

The characterization, the flow of the story, and the writing are exquisite. What really thrilled me was the in-depth research that has gone into the book. Every character builds up beautifully in the book. We know that corruption rules politics; still, it is scary to see how corrupt. Biswas's book has everything to make it a bestseller: love, intrigue, fantastic plot, mystery, different colors of human nature, and a gruesome serial killer. And of course, one has to fall in love with Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput for his dogged pursuit of the case, for he will not rest until he solves it, no matter what obstacles are thrown in his way.

Overall, loved the book. Reading it was like watching an action crime thriller. Such a great plot for a movie!

Power, sex, money and greed come together in Mumbai in The Blue Bar.

Thirteen years ago, Arnav's one true love, Tara disappears. Now a police officer investigating brutal murders of women, he can't get Tara out of his mind.

The story alternates between POVs, mostly Arnav and the killer, or the killer's guardian of sorts. The story is complex and builds to an intense shocking heartbreaking conclusion.

I loved the location in India, having never read a book centered there. Arnav was also a fantastic character as was his assistant. I knew going in that there were going to be alot of characters so I armed myself with my notes app and took care to list them all out. Despite that, I still found this book confusing. It was helpful that the author did start including a list of potential suspects and some key facts. Also it's important to note that if you aren't familiar with Indian cuisine, you will not understand the food references.

If you like a dark police procedural thriller this one is for you.

4.3 Stars

One Liner: Gritty and dark police procedural; entertaining
Tara Mondal disappears as a young bar dancer in Mumbai. No one knows where she went after a stint at a crowded railway station wearing a blue sequin saree.
Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput has had a busy career, but he can’t stop thinking about his girlfriend, Tara. It has been thirteen years since her disappearance.
A recent discovery of a dead body in a ligation land opens a can of worms. Inspector Arnav knows that it’s not a lone case but has very little to work on. It doesn’t help that the landowner is super rich and has enough influence to disrupt the case.
As things are set in motion, Arnav realizes that the case has links to his past, and there’s someone out there who will do anything to prevent him from finding the killer. Can Arnav get to the root of the matter? What will it cost him? What does Tara have to do with everything?
The story comes in the third-person POV of Arnav, Tara, and a couple of other characters.

What I Like:
As someone who devoured countless episodes of CID, Adalat, Arjun, Agent Raghav, PI, et al, reading this book was like revisiting the shows (albeit in a darker setting). Though I haven’t been to Mumbai, I identify the places from these shows. This familiarity is a definite plus.
The book is a gritty and dark police procedural that reminded me of Madhur Bhandarkar movies. In fact, his film Chandni Bar shows the stark realities of dance bars, the connections with the Mumbai underworld, and prostitution. The book also has Ram Gopal Verma’s vibes (not his Twitter personality, but his movies like Company and Sarkar).
Inspector Arnav is easy to like despite his flaws. Yeah, there were times I wanted to whack him on the head, but who doesn’t love a flawed character when he owns up to his mistakes and tries to become a better person? Tara and Zoya were well-etched. Nandini, too, though she is a little too flawless.
There is a love track that is seamlessly integrated into the plot instead of providing relief from the tension. This helps in sustaining the tempo and the dark mood throughout the book.
The story takes place during Dusshera and Diwali, which means there are enough references to Ravan Dahan. What I like (love) in this book is how Ravan is described as who he is. The killer is compared to Ravan for sexually assaulting, hurting, and murdering women.
(This shouldn’t even be a point to highlight. However, two books I read this year by Indian American authors made me emphasize this point. Kaikeyi outright whitewashed Ravan’s rapes and presented him as someone who respects women. Then, recently, The Bandit Queens had a statement that Ravan was madly in love with Sita. After this level of self-proclaimed feminism, it’s a relief to read something that mentions things as they are.)
Another aspect I like about the book is the maturity with which it deals with subjects like religion, politics, corruption, mafia, Bwood, etc. (It’s a relief to say this as a part of me was worried.)
There’s no virtue signaling or targeting based on ideology. Things are presented as they are and used for the plot. The writer’s focus has to be plot rather than pseudo activism. The author maintains the balance throughout, making it a fairly realistic Indian police procedural (or crime thriller).
The book deals with themes that have a great scope for graphical descriptions. While there is some description, it is not very detailed or graphic. This keeps the focus on the plot. The narration is controlled and gives enough information for the reader to imagine the rest.
The climax is ek dum filmy, an advantage and a disadvantage. It worked well for me (mostly) as I like watching the shootout scenes in crime shows. However, for a book, the scenes feel a little too filmy. It was fun to imagine one of my favorite small-screen actors in the lead role. ;)

What Could Have Been Better for Me:
I’m not a fan of slow-burn thrillers (a reason why I don’t enjoy noir). This one picks up pace as the story progressed, but the beginning is slow. The chapters with the killer’s POV distract the focus from the main plot. Those are necessary later on, but I feel around 5 chapters could have been removed and the information scattered into the other chapters. It would have tightened the narration.
A couple of words have incorrect meanings or spelling, though nothing that’ll affect your reading experience. One of them irked me as a South Indian, but I can see why it had to be done. (Indian readers, you know what I’m referring to.)

To summarize, The Blue Bar is an Indian crime thriller that presents the dark aspects of society but with a great balance and maturity. It is a desi novel I’m glad to have read (after being burnt by you-know-what), and looking forward to reading the second book in the series.
This book is not about exotic India with snake charmers or spicy cuisine. It is not about the dirty, poor, and stereotypical India where nothing good exists. The Blue Bar is India as Indians know it. It has good, bad, and ugly. Go with the right expectations, and you’ll enjoy the book more.
I should mention that I read the author’s Twitter thread about hateful and racist DMs she received for the book. It is saddening to see that happen, though I wonder if the reason partly lies with the book not catering to either stereotype mentioned above.
Thank you, Damyanti Biwas, NetGalley, and Thomas & Mercer, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

In a Nutshell: A literary crime noir set in my beloved city of Mumbai!!! (Trying my best not to be biased in this review! 😃) Complicated characters, gritty plot, fast-paced writing. Enjoyed most of it. But this *might* work better for those familiar with Mumbai.

Story Synopsis:
Mumbai, 2002. Tara Mondal, a young bar dancer, had been offered an odd assignment for a hefty payment. She just needed to wear a blue sequinned saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from the premises within three minutes. That was the last time anyone saw Tara.

Mumbai, mid-2010s. Inspector Arnav Rajput, who was Tara's lover back when he was a constable, has just been informed of a woman’s body being discovered in a construction site. As his officers begin investigating, they realise that this is just one of several other similar cases. All that they have to connect the decapitated bodies are some scattered blue sequins.

The search for a possible serial killer leads to a blurred lines between the past and the present, as Arnav desperately tries to nab the culprit before it might be too late. Will this investigation also reveal to him what happened to Tara all those years ago?
The story comes to us in the limited (mostly) third person perspective of four key characters.


I had read Damyanti’s debut work, ‘You Beneath Your Skin’, a couple of years ago and was blown away by her narrative control and plot choices. It remains one of my favourite books by a contemporary Indian writer. That novel revealed the darker shades of New Delhi. This time, it’s Mumbai’s turn. Yay!

Where the book worked for me:
💘 My city. In a fictional book. That is well-written! Many of you might already know how this feels, but to me, this is the first time ever that I read a great (though not perfect) representation of Mumbai. The local lingo, the attitude of the people, the fast-moving lifestyle, the larger-than-life persona of movie stars,… Cant tell you how much I enjoyed this aspect of the novel. Having familiarity with the locations helps so much in visualising the story!
💘 After the initial couple of chapters, the book really upped the action. The writing is quick-paced without compromising on quality.
💘 Though the writing seems a teeny bit repetitive at times, it was helpful for a change, as the storyline was quite tricky to keep track of. (And this is despite my being comfortable with the Indian names, locations and words!) Arnav’s regular summations helped to keep abreast of the entire investigation without losing track of anything.
💘 This was an Indian book that felt Indian – it has its heart in the country. If you pick this up expecting something as exotic as ‘The Henna Artist’ or as dramatic as ‘The Spaces Between Us’, you are the wrong audience for this novel. (Also, if you think that those two books present “the true picture of India”, you couldn’t be more wrong!) This is not a book selling glamorised versions of Indian society, nor is it peddling to you stereotypical portrayals of the casteist/religious issues in the country. It is a presentation of the darker side of Mumbai City, the seedy underbelly that lurks in the background under the glamorous exteriors of Bollywood and business. AND it sticks to this purpose without adding in social commentary or moralising characters. Loved the reality.
💘 Though I did guess the identity of the serial killer, I loved the path to this discovery. The author doesn’t make things easy with her regular curveballs of data highlighting the flaws of multiple characters.
💘 There is a minor thread of romance in the book which does help relieve tensions. At the same time, the romance never overshadows the crime arc.

Where the book could have worked better for me:
💔 There are a few data-based errors in the writing. None of this would be noticeable to any outsider, and none affect the flow of the story. However, as a Mumbaikar, the errors sort of popped out before my eyes. Also, the spellings & meanings of a few of the Indian words are incorrect. (I say ‘Indian” because the book uses words from a variety of languages.)
💔 The action-packed ending feels a bit hurried. It was over just when I expected it to provide an adrenaline surge.

I've a strong feeling this book will work better for Indian readers than international readers. We Indians are attuned to reading international (or rather, American and British) books right since our childhood. However, those in the US won't be accustomed to reading Indian works. The story is much dependent on a familiarity with local lifestyle and practices, none of which transport well to an international setting. The idiosyncrasies of Mumbai can be understood only by a Mumbaikar. (This last line can be extrapolated to India/Indians as well.)

Does this mean that I won’t recommend the novel to those unfamiliar with India? On the contrary, I wish with all my heart that you read this novel and experience a story that is authentic to the Indian experience. As a crime noir, this covers only the grittier side of Mumbai city, but it is still done in a scintillating way.

Recommended if you want to try a different kind of literary crime thriller. True crime fans and police procedural fans who want to check out Indian noir, here’s a wonderful chance.

If you are an Indian reader, think Anurag Kashyap plus Madhur Bhandarkar plus Ram Gopal Verma at their best. You can’t miss this work.

4.25 stars.


My thanks to author Damyanti Biswas, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Blue Bar”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. I can’t wait to read the next book in the ‘Blue Mumbai’ series.

Trigger warning: The crimes are pretty gruesome, though nothing much happens on page.

I didn’t realize this was an Amazon pick for December, so I’m not sure if I can add much more to the many,many reviews that are already posted. I’ll say the setting, the mystery, and the characters kept me flipping the pages and I do hope to see Arnav again.
The Blue Bar was the first book I read set in Mumbai. I’ve never visited India, but almost every page was written so descriptively that I could close my eyes and think I had actually been there. Not an easy thing for an author to accomplish, but the sights, smells, noise, and corruption came vividly to life for me. It took me several chapters to fully understand where the plot would take me,but characters were interesting and fully flushed out and once I was hooked the chapters just flew by.
Inspector Arnav fears a serial killer may have taken the lives of numerous bargirls. One in particular, a girl named Tara who disappeared many years ago and one Arnav has not forgotten. Will he discover that she was one of the killers victims or could the girl he loved and lost still be alive? An engaging mystery and some great characters make me want to read the next book soon.

If you are looking for a nail biting suspenseful read, Blue Bar by Damyanti Biswas it is. Fast paced narrative that takes the reader into bylanes of Mumbai into the lives of dancing bar girls, corrupt police men, rich influential people of society and a slew of dead bodies. As the mystery of the dead girls unfolds , it also reveals the heartaches, the lies, the hopes and desperation of the characters. The story keeps its readers engaged all through.

The Blue Bar is an immersion into the streets of Mumbai, and into the crookedness of crime, law and order. We watch a young woman, who is being watched – we become the meta-voyeur. She sashays across a crowded train platform in a blue sequinned sari, her shawl drops and for a moment she is a beacon of light, drawing all eyes on her. That whole sequence was enough to hold your breath, and see the glimmer from the order of your eye, playing with your mind, as the young woman was doing for those who were watching her. But why and who is watching? This is purely only one moment of this crime thriller and mystery rolled into one by Damyants Biswas. This book also introduces the reader to bar dancing in Mumbai, and women who were making choices about whether to take things one step further to earn more money, and the consequences of saying no. And of course, disparity between the classes, not only the rich and poor is striking throughout.
This book strongly steers towards being one that is character and setting driven, and this adds layers to the ploy as it evolves. We are even given access to the point of view of the killer who did not end up being whom I thought it would be – loved this twist! The killer’s means and methods are gruesome and vicious. The police force was portrayed quite bluntly: the ways in which investigations were carried out were, as well as the way members of the police force worked together and were silenced was captured with great detail. Arnav and Tara seem like star crossed lovers, never meeting at the right time until the very end and even then their love is bittersweet and selfless.