Jaya Jones is a historian with a reputation for finding lost treasure, so she's not surprised when someone arrives at her office wanting her help to solve a mystery. What is surprising is that one of her long-dead relatives figures into that mystery. When her would-be client is found murdered, she knows she must solve the puzzle of an antique treasure map before she becomes the next victim.

PIRATE VISHNU goes back and forth between telling the story of Jaya's great-great uncle, Anand, and showing Jaya's present-day hunt for a treasure that Anand hid more than one-hundred years ago. Author Gigi Pandian never reveals too much, but lets us follow along as Jaya searches for clues, interprets them, then uses the information to find the next piece of the puzzle.

Jaya and the other characters are all very much individuals, with different ways of speaking and responding to the situations they face. It makes the world Pandian has created very real, and that ups the suspense, especially when Jaya is unsure whether one of her friends has betrayed her.

PIRATE VISHNU is the second book in the Jaya Jones series. It's not necessary to have read the first book, Artifact, to enjoy this one. I highly recommend PIRATE VISHNU for readers who like contemporary and historical mysteries.