Manisha Lakhe is a writer and blogger. After a successful stint in advertising, she studied filmmaking at the Northwest Film Centre in Portland, Oregon. She is currently based in Mumbai, where she runs an online writer's forum called Caferati. The Betelnut Killers is her debut novel.

81 Million Dollar Chicken

Chimanrao Kulkarni was never allowed to forget that he was useless. It was his wife Saraswati and his daughter-in-law Hetal who ran the house, the taxi union and the KDC show (Kabootars Driving Cabs). But it was Chimanrao's solitary occupation that becomes the basis of the family wealth. Wealth they cannot boast about. Wealth that Hetal's younger sister Jigna's new pimply-faced boyfriend has been asked to investigate by the FBI. Just when Bhaurao, the new kabootar from Sangli makes a mistake, the NYPD decides to plunge their fingers into something that turns out to be spicier than the Kolhapuri chicken, Saraswati bai cooks for all the union drivers.

Category: Fiction
Rights: Available

The Betelnut Killers

Chimanbhai Shah is the content, mild-mannered owner of a grocery shop in Portland. But when Supriya, the sexy siren, draws his customers away to her slick new store, it leads to a sudden downturn in his business. In desperation, the Shahs turn to Osmanbhai, a Mumbai supari killer, to help them get rid of their competition. The book is a farcical black comedy about an NRI Gujarati family where Sopranos meets Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron; ambition leads to crime; passion overwhelms reason; and trial transforms into tragedy.

Category: Fiction
Publishing House: Random House India