The Girl in the Mist

NAMED ONE OF CRIMEREADS' MOST ANTICIPATED CRIME NOVELS OF 2022It lurks in the shadows. It lives in your worst nightmares. It feeds on your deepest fears. And it’s coming to get you.When she loses her parents in a car accident in Boston, Diya Mathur’s world collapses around her. As far as she knows, she’s a young woman alone in the world now, her parents having been her only living relatives. Until a mysterious letter arrives from India, claiming to be from her extended family that she’d never heard of. Suddenly, Diya has a chance at being part of a family again. She decides to take time out of school and go to India to meet her newfound family. But soon after Diya arrives there is a spate of what appear to be animal attacks around her and her family. As bodies and tragedies pile up around her, Diya finds out more about the secrets her family is hiding, including the curse of the Chakwa—a shapeshifting trickster with the feet of a large beast—which legend has it, has been responsible for tragedies in her family for centuries. Diya’s no longer sure that her parents’ car crash was an accident. Will the monster that ruined her parents’ life now destroy her happiness? Or will she manage to defeat it at its own game? With the help of her newly discovered friends and family, Diya must fight not just the monster from her nightmares, but also make sense of a fast-unravelling web of lies that makes up her life.

The Free Press Journal"Takes readers on ride between realms of known, and unknown, merging myth with folklore and reality and crime."

"A fun and engaging plot, with a stimulating and gratifying read, and looks to be on the way to be a bestseller."

Times of India

"A chilling ride into a world where folklore merges with crime fiction."

About the Author

Vinaya Bhagat grew up with her face partly obscured by the books she was reading. She knew more about her favourite characters than her next-door neighbours. When not reading, she was writing and immersing herself in imaginary worlds. Writing took a backseat as she pursued a career in IT, until a fateful winter day in Dallas, Texas when she met with a near-fatal car crash. During her lengthy recovery, from wounds of body and mind, she once again found solace in writing and picked up the pen with renewed focus. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and have been short-listed in national and international writing competitions. She now lives in Bengaluru, India. Find her on Twitter @VinayaBhaghat1

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