Banquet on the Dead
Banquet on the Dead
When an elderly matriarch's body is found floating in the family well, and when it is known that the lady was scared of water, suspicion comes to rest naturally on her many family members. Hamid Pasha and Inspector Nagarajan have to figure out the puzzle before it's too late.
This title is part of the Crime Fiction Bundle, a hand-picked 4-book collection that you can grab for just ā¹599 (Save 50%). [See the Bundle]
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Product Description
Kauveramma loved life. She was terrified of water. So why was her body found floating gruesomely, hair fanned out, limbs outspread, in the well of the family compound?
Her sons, daughter, grandchildren-some of them resident, others far-flung-assemble at her death with expressions ranging from composed or confused to those of outright maniacal grief.
Things don't quite fit, and one of them demands an investigation into the mysterious drowning.
Enter a policeman, Inspector Valmiki Nagarajan, and a charming rogue, Hamid Pasha.
The latter is an elderly Muslim and a reformed criminal who spouts ghazals, has exquisite manners, and it's clear he's the brains of the two. He and the policeman regard each other with reluctant admiration and gruff affection.
They have been on opposite sides of the law and clashed in the past, and that has formed an unstated bond.
The duo interrogates each member of the family and staff in turn, unearthing secrets of their past, and calculating the degrees of their love, hatred or loyalty to Kauveramma-and each other.
As it happens, everyone had something to gain from Kauveramma's banishment from their lives.
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Number of pages (approximate):Ā 350
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I've been a big fan of Sharath Komarraju's work, starting with his Hastinapur novels, but I never got around to reading this. It's his first but easily his best I would say. I felt like I was drawn into a nostalgic world of the past. And the ending is top-notch. Even with all my experience reading crime novels, I couldn't see this coming. Give it a try!
Four murder mysteries in a bundle is a wonderful gift for someone like me, who is an avid crime fiction reader. I liked three of these puzzles more than the fourth. Banquet on the Dead did not appeal to me... I could guess the solution from a few pages away, and once that happened, I could spot all the red herrings too. Your mileage may vary. The other three books are great. Especially Tree Bears Witness - ingenious plotting!
Excellent reads! I'm a long-time crime fiction reader, and I am impressed by the variety on offer in these four books. Even the two Birbal books are dissimilar enough from each other to keep the reader's interest. One of the big challenges of writing in the crime fiction genre is that after a while, your stories begin to sound like one another. Sharath Komarraju avoids that pitfall here. Murder in Amaravati is a slow-burn, Banquet on the Dead is urban and fast-paced, Crows of Agra is a historical, and Tree Bears Witness is an impossible murder. Something for everyone.
If you enjoy the old-style murder mysteries with a sleuth, a cast of characters and a bunch of red herrings leading to an implausible solution, you will enjoy these. I found these books to be a mixed bag. I didn't dislike them enough to ask for a refund, but didn't love them enough to think they're the best ever. They okay books. Not very good, not very bad.
I enjoyed all four of these books to varying degrees. I liked the old-world sentimentality of Murder in Amaravati. Banquet on the Dead is a straight-up mystery set in contemporary India. Probably the weakest of the lot, but still very good. Crows of Agra had more atmosphere and immersion than I expected: it read like a work of historical fiction, despite the author's insistence that it is not. The Tree Bears Witness is easily the most tightly plotted, well-executed novel of the four. I'm an avid reader of crime fiction, so I'm not easily impressed. But these proved to be far better than I expected. Why is this author not famous?