Detective Aunty Investigates is a cozy mystery series by Uzma Jalaluddin. Its heroine, Kausar Khan, is a South Asian Muslim widow who solves murders in the Golden Crescent, a Toronto suburb in Scarborough. The series has two books so far: Detective Aunty (2025) and Moonlight Murder (2026). Below you will find the plot of each book, the reading order, the release dates and what we know about a sequel.
Is Detective Aunty a Series?
Yes. Detective Aunty is the first book in a cozy new series, and Moonlight Murder is book 2. You may also see it listed as the Kausar Khan Investigates series, an earlier name. Both novels are published by HarperCollins: Harper Perennial in the US and HarperCollins Canada at home.
It is a new cozy mystery series with a heroine we don’t see often enough on the cozy shelf. Kausar is 57, a mother and a grandmother, and she notices everything. The author calls her a South Asian Miss Marple, and the comparison fits. Like Agatha Christie’s sleuth, she is underestimated because she is an older woman, and she uses that.
Detective Aunty Investigates: Book 1 Plot Summary
Kausar Khan lost her husband unexpectedly eighteen months before the story begins. Then comes another heartbreaking phone call. Her thirty-something daughter, Sana, has been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique. Sana’s shop sells South Asian bridal wear, and the dead man is her landlord, Imran Thakur.
Kausar is originally from Hyderabad, India, and has lived in North Bay, Ontario, for seventeen years. Now she goes back to Toronto for the first time in nearly twenty years. Sana still lives in the Golden Crescent suburb where Kausar raised her children. When her grown daughter is suspected of murder, a mother does not wait for the police. Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth and find the real killer.
She has help. Old friends from the neighborhood open their doors, and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Maleeha, joins in. Maleeha is 15, and her younger sister, Fizza, is 10. Kausar’s aunty network turns out to be a better source than any police file. With a keen sense of observation, she learns more over a cup of chai than the detectives do in an interview room. Along the way she finds crimes and secrets in her old suburb, not only the killing of the landlord.
Is There a Sequel to Detective Aunty? Moonlight Murder (Book 2)
Yes. Moonlight Murder, the second book, came out on May 5, 2026. It is a sequel that also stands alone, so a new reader can start here.
Kausar has moved back to Toronto to be closer to her family. She doesn’t expect another murder so soon. Then a young man named Mateen is found dead in the Golden Crescent, and Kausar learns that he was close to her granddaughter, Maleeha.
Mateen’s death reminds her of her own teenage son, Ali, who died in mysterious circumstances nearly twenty years ago. Ali’s case was never solved. As Kausar digs into both deaths, her aunty skills bring more to light. She starts to wonder whether the two cases are linked. For Kausar the investigation is personal, and it is about grief as much as murder.
Detective Aunty Books in Order
The reading order is also the publication order:
- Book 1: Detective Aunty (May 6, 2025)
- Book 2: Moonlight Murder (May 5, 2026)
When Was the Detective Aunty Book Released?
The first book, Detective Aunty, was released on May 6, 2025, by Harper Perennial in the US. HarperCollins Canada published it in Canada in May 2025. Moonlight Murder followed a year later, on May 5, 2026.
Is there a book 3? Not yet. As of September 2026, no third book has been announced by the author or the publisher. The first two books came out a year apart. A date for the next one has not been set. We will update this page when book 3 is announced.
Who Is the Author of the Detective Aunty Series? Uzma Jalaluddin
Uzma Jalaluddin is a bestselling Canadian author. She lives outside Toronto with her husband and two sons. She has taught high school since 2003, and she writes a parenting and culture column for the Toronto Star.
Before this series, the acclaimed author was known for romantic comedy. Her books include:
- Ayesha at Last (2019), her debut romance novel, a Cosmopolitan UK Book of the Year.
- Hana Khan Carries On (2021), in development for film by Amazon Studios and Mindy Kaling.
- Much Ado About Nada (2023), inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
- Three Holidays and a Wedding (2023), written with Marissa Stapley.
Kausar’s story is her first mystery, a cozy new detective series from the acclaimed author of stories about Muslims and South Asians in Canada. Her humour and her ear for family life carry over from the romances.
What Genre Is the Detective Aunty Series?
It is a cozy mystery: an amateur sleuth, a close community and a fair puzzle. It is also crime fiction with a strong sense of culture. Kausar’s faith is part of her daily life. Islam, family, food and the aunty network of the Golden Crescent shape how she investigates.
The books are whodunits in the Agatha Christie tradition, with dinner parties, gossip and a detective nobody takes seriously. They are also about a woman starting her second act. Grief, empathy and family are as important as the question of who did it.
For us, the series is the flagship of a small but growing shelf: cozy mysteries with a Muslim protagonist. You will find more of them on our Muslim fiction authors page.
Where Can I Find Reviews for Detective Aunty?
The first book was named a Best Fiction Book of the Year by:
- Kirkus Reviews
- The Washington Post
- Library Journal
- The Globe and Mail
- the Chicago Public Library
Kirkus reviewed it in 2025, and it has thousands of reader ratings on Goodreads.
Our own reviews of both books are coming. When they are up, they will appear in the list below.
Good Female Detective Book Series Like Detective Aunty
If you like a delightful cozy mystery with a woman who is underestimated, try these:
- Vera Wong series by Jesse Q. Sutanto – a nosy widow runs a tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown and investigates when she finds a body in her shop.
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – four friends in an English retirement village take on unsolved cases.
- Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey – one of India’s first women lawyers solves crimes in 1920s Bombay.
- China Bayles Mysteries – Susan Wittig Albert’s former lawyer turned herbalist in Texas.
- Stephanie Plum – Janet Evanovich’s funny bounty hunter in Trenton.
Browse all our cozy mystery series for more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to read the Detective Aunty books in order?
No. Each book is a complete mystery. Still, start with book 1 if you can, because Kausar’s move back to Toronto and her family story begin there.
Where is the Golden Crescent?
The Golden Crescent is Kausar’s old neighborhood in Scarborough, in the east of Toronto.
Who is Kausar Khan?
Kausar Khan is the protagonist, a 57-year-old South Asian Muslim widow and grandmother. Her family calls on her skills as an aunty, and she turns them into detective work.
Is Detective Aunty a TV show or a movie?
No adaptation of this series has been announced. The film in development with Amazon Studios and Mindy Kaling is based on her earlier novel, Hana Khan Carries On.