The world’s most unlikely crime solving duo is back – and this time Irish nun Sister Agatha Murphy and Indian hotel owner Avtar Mehta discover that family secrets are the most deadly. When the tyrannical head of one of Delhi’s richest families is found dead inside a locked room within the historic Elephant House, Sister Agnes and Avtar must solve an impossible murder. All the children have motives, but would any of them really kill their mother for her money? Or is her death payback for a much deeper debt?
As the city builds bonfires to celebrate the festival of Lohri, Sister Agatha and Avtar face backstabbing siblings, a gangster with untold influence, a police siege and a cigarette-stealing elephant. Avtar and Sister Agatha are on the hunt for a murderer, but is – sorry, I’ll interrupt the official blurb there, because it’s a bit, well, hinty, if not spoilery.
I know, I hardly ever use the official blurb unless I’m in a hurry, or, in this case, if my computer closed Word down after I finished my review without saving it!
So, this is the second book in what Amazon are calling the Haveli Hotel Mysteries, because that’s the hotel that Avtar owns and where the first book was set. You can jump in at this point – I did – and get up to speed pretty quickly without the first book being spoiled. I never quite got a handle on why the police chief hates Agatha and Avtar so much, but I guess those details would spoil the first book.
The characters, in particular the leads, are very good company and the local detail is vividly painted. The solution to the impossibility is clever too – reminiscent of a late John Dickson Carr book, but the misdirection here helps hide that. I would be curious to know if DNA works like it does here, but I’m willing to overlook that.
The problem I had with the book is that it felt rather slow. There aren’t that many incidents and the plot felt like it was treading water in places. The finale is overlong too, having me assuming that we were getting a twist as to who the killer was, but no, it was just taking its time. Oh, and it also includes a particular bugbear of mine, namely a clue in a photograph that we, obviously, can’t see.
All in all, it was a pleasant read but too slow-paced for me to be rushing back. But if you want to take your time wallowing in a beautifully pictured Delhi in some good company, you could do a lot worse than taking a trip to the Elephant House.
Death At The Elephant House is out on October 8th from No Exit Press. Many thanks for the review copy.
