Agora Books, 340 pages, $26 (c2020)
I expected more of a cultural mystery, since “A Will to Kill” is set in Nilgiri Hills of India. What I got was a very British isolated mansion mystery. Most of the characters are Indian but as diverse as Americans are in America.
Bhaskar fears an untimely death brought about by one of his near and dear in order to inherit a sizeable portion of Bhaskar’s estate. So he has done two things to lessen the chances. One, he has made two wills, one to be read in the event of a natural death and the other in the event of an unnatural one. Two, he has hired the services of the esteemed private investigator Athreya to keep the hanky-panky down.
In the foggy landscape of Greybrooke Manor (!), the suspects gather: Bhaskar’s son, his nieces and nephew, various spouses, family retainers, the village priest, a lawyer, an antique dealer, the son of the owner of a nearby resort. A landslide blocks the only passage to and from the manor (of course). And then the first murder happens.
And then the second murder happens.
Hmm.
I will say this for the book: There are a lot of twists and turns, and right at the end there is a twist and then another twist.
If you like locked room mysteries with a hint of the exotic (but just a hint), you might like this. Athreya proves a commendable detective.
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