Book Review : ‘The Assassin Nuns and the Pirates of Peppercorn Bay’ by Manisha Anand

A wonderful book by Manisha Anand, is 'The Assassin Nuns and the Pirates of Peppercorn Bay’ could take you back to the days of Enid Blyton, but there it stops, because it goes nothing like Blyton did. 

Instead, it takes on a whole new journey. So, take out your mystery specs, and tune in to a whole new era of book writing. In the quiet little town of Pistachio, lived a few odd superheroes led along by the Reverend Mother. Now, this tiny settlement had its own set of problems. It incessantly, saw quite the few attackers and other sets of thieves, who kept on attacking the town. 

Old Joel, who is a stables owner, provides help and advice to the groups of nuns for around fifty years, now. Quite tired of the whole thing, Revered Mother and her group of Assassin Nuns, along with Ann, a little girl are all packed off to Peppercorn Bay for a holiday. So, they all set out to a seaside cottage.

On their holiday, they are busy enjoying themselves, when at night, curious little Ann and Bonjour, the pet hamster, spot a light in the distance. It keeps on flashing from the lighthouse, up the cliff that goes on awhile and stops. Now, the lighthouse has been abandoned for many years now, and Ann was told that it was empty.

So, little Ann wants to find out more, and she takes the help of Sister Sparkplug

Illustration by Sukanto Debnath

to explore it at night. Now, it is holiday time for the Assassin Nuns and Ann does not want to disrupt it, without some proof. Sister Sparkplug, who agrees to go along, says that she would take her electronics detector along.

The rest of the Assassin Nuns decide to go boat riding and Mother Superior takes charge and guides the boat along. The boat stops and they meet Mr Bernie, who is a private detective. He was lounging there along with Tango, a bright orange cat and Mango, his gecko. Mr Bernie was sunning himself, when Ann who attempts to find out a little about what goes on around there, tries to get him talking. He only tells her of Fisherman’s Cave.

Ann and Sister Sparkplug set out at night to the lighthouse and discover a whole new set of folks, quite by mistake. Though, dressed as pirates, the group tell them that they were just recreating and having a little fun. Apparently, the towns people have a little bit of pirating history to all of them, but nobody wants to get caught, so nobody claims it. But these folk just want to have some fun.

Ann, who has now heard of smugglers, pirates and boats near the beach, has by now decided to tell the Assassin Nuns about these strange goings on. So, it is with great excitement, that all of them forward to solving the curious mystery of the Bay. Ann, who wants to find out more, asks Mr Nesbitt, who apparently saw something on the beach too. He tells her of the boats coming in and going out near the lighthouse. Both times they had equally heavy boxes on the boat.

They have the island, the mysterious couple with their kids, along with Mr Codsworth who was arrested, frying pans, torches, Mr Bernie, and Mango and Tango. If the nuns do not catch them, who would? Can they solve this little mystery? Can they go down in the boat? Will they discover the secret tunnel and where it leads to? Will the Assassin Nuns come out on top, and beat the Pirates of Peppercorn Bay? The story would be amiss without the illustrations by Sukanto Debnath, so kudos to him too.

 _{You can Buy the Book, right here.}