Uzma Jalaluddin

Detective Auntie is set, as you said, in the GTA in the greater Toronto area.

Specifically, it's set in the same area that my rom-coms are set in, which is the neighborhood of the Golden Crescent.

And this is a fictional East End neighborhood.

I like to imagine it somewhere in Scarborough.

So if you're a Toronto person, you know, that's the East End neighborhood.

It's a very diverse suburb.

It's actually where I grew up.

I grew up alongside people from all over the world, speaking many different languages, different cultures, different faith traditions as well.

And my main character, Gosur Khan, lived in the GTA, but around 18 years ago, moved with her husband to North Bay.

And the reason why she moved is a very tragic one.

She had a death in the family and her grief sent her kind of fleeing from the city because she couldn't be reminded of the person that she'd lost anymore.

So 18 years have passed.

Koso Khan is now in her late 50s.

Her husband of many years died a year prior.

And she's basically still living in North Bay when she gets this phone call.

And that's the excerpt that she played earlier where her adult daughter in Toronto says, I really need you back in the city because I've just been accused of murder and I need my mom.

And so Koser travels, even though she hasn't stepped foot in Toronto in many, many years, she travels back to Toronto to help her daughter.

And she kind of has this latent talent and ability to observe things.

She's a South Asian auntie.

She notices everything.