Nisha Small: The Knot of Gold

Nisha Small (née Kutty) is the best detective in Madurai. And it’s time for her to compete with mustachioed detectives to catch the thaali thief.

A missing thaali! That’s the knot of gold. But what does the word thaali mean to you?
Different things depending on where you’re from. Or perhaps it means nothing at all, which made me wonder about the universality of the story.

Despite my questions about what unilingual people would make of the book, I couldn’t help chuckling at the inter-language wordplay. I’ve lost track of the number of times people have asked me why south Indians write Seetha, Geetha, Bharatha Natyam … the works. But I’ve never thought of writing a book about it! Nisha Small: The Knot of Gold was fun!

With Nisha and Jamie, the reader investigates the mystery of the thaali thief. Jamie has complete confidence in Nisha. She is the best detective in school, after all! The fact that the others there are professionals isn’t worth mentioning, is it?

Rajiv Eipe’s delightful illustrations (my favourite is on page 33) make this hOle book a fun, funny read. I’d love to read more stories featuring this pair of child detectives!