Under the Eye of Kali introduces Indian American amateur sleuth Anita Ray, who lives with her aunt at a tourist hotel in South India. The guests are the usual assortment of foreigners, but two of them are too free with their plans to smuggle medical materials into Burma. When one becomes ill and her traveling companion turns up dead, Anita is determined to find out what is happening.

While also trying to track down the source of one guest's sudden panic, Anita must also cope with strange goings-on within the hotel management. Auntie Meena's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and she refused to explain strange expenditures from the hotel income.

Under the Eye of Kali takes the reader into a little-known part of South India, and behind the scenes in a popular resort. The men and women who make the world a special vacation site are also the ones who watch the strangers in their midst skirt danger without even knowing it. And the workers come together to help their own.

This mystery is rich with the sights and smells and secrets of South India and Indian families. Anita is a young woman fending off her aunt's efforts to find her a suitable husband, all the while reminding her of her family heritage and the duty of a young Indian woman. Anita, of course, will have none of it. A talented photographer, she is determined to live the life she wants--and that is her only ambition, along with tracking down murderers.