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The great Mauryan emperor Ashoka is furious.

Someone is messing with the messages he wants inscribed on rocks and pillars.

What's worse, the messages are now the opposite of what Ashoka wants to say. Who can help the emperor solve this mystery?

This is one of the first two books in the History Mystery series. With mysteries that you'll never find in history books, hysterically historical and packed with facts, the books introduce young readers to characters from India's past.

“The book is a delight to read and dwells on historical facts combining fact with fiction. The book manages to hold you right from the start to the end, and you want to find out who exactly is doing this to the king. What we liked about the book:

1. The combination of fact with fiction and the small note which the author gives at the end of the book telling us more about the facts of the Mauryan king 2. The descriptions. Natasha Sharma has a way with words 3. The imagination of the author seems astounding. She has weaved the story so well around the facts, that I almost believed this would have happened 4. I didn’t know that in olden days kings prefered female guards. It’s really heartening to learn such facts which burst gender stereotypes 5. The way the mystery is solved, awesome 6. The great illustrations which are just apt for the book 7. The subtle sense of humor in almost every line. The book is funny without going overboard”

—Indian Moms Connect

“History is much more than dates and events. It is an uninterrupted, captivating story. And yet, it was one of the dullest subjects during our schooling. Much later we realized that it could’ve been the most absorbing one.

That’s what Natasha Sharma achieves in this History Mystery book – Ashoka and the Muddled Messages – bring fascination into what children avoid as mundane.”

—Good Books

“The story itself is high on the readability and fun quotient. There’s a liberal dose of slapstick humor. Sure to be a hit with young readers.

The seven-year-old in these parts now talks of Ujjaini and Dakshinapatha with great familiarity. He also utters the war cry of the Tremendous Ten – Haaayyaaa, Hoooyyaaa, Heeeyyaaa!”

Click to read the entire review.

—Saffron Tree

"History is not easily lapped up by kids. My younger one, at least, tries to avoid all references to the subject. So, when he picked up a book from Natasha Sharma's History Mystery series, I was pleasantly surprised. Two books from the series are out, and we have read Ashoka and the Muddled messages. The plot is hilarious with the king's edicts ending up muddled every time he sends them out to his kingdom. When he asks everyone to turn vegetarian, his edict gets muddled, and ends up inscribed on stone, encouraging people to make animal sacrifices! So who is muddling up the messages, and creating utter chaos across the kingdom?

The Agramatya's beard, that he colours in the most outrageous shades, the Tremendous Ten and their antics, the queen's tantrums - all make the whodunnit fairly interesting. What we absolutely loved about the book was the brief, simple facts about the king given at the back , a page in the end for 'My hysterical History notes,' and the absolutely lovely illustrations by Tanvi Bhat.

Must read for the younger raccoons. In fact my ten year old also enjoyed it, so it is definitely not limited to that age group." - Reviewed by Tanu Shree Singh on the Reading Raccoons group.