Review: 3 and a Half Murders

3 and a Half Murders by Salil Desai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my first book by this author. The story is actually quite interesting, but in a case of trying too hard to appeal, falls short.

Surekhabhai is a cook who first tells Mrs Tambe that their neighbours are not opening the door though the TV can be heard from their flat (in Kothrud, Pune). A person engaged to clear a beehive next spots Sanjay Doshi hanging from the ceiling and raises the alarm. Inspector Saralkar and his junior Matkar are assigned the case. At the outset it appears straightforward – there is a suicide letter purportedly written by Sanjay Doshi saying he had killed his wife as she was having an affair with one Saunak Sodhi, after that he writes that he had decided to also end his wife. His wife’s face is doused with acid.

Investigation, however, reveals that there is more to this than meets the eye. The murdered couple have a history from several years back in Bangalore and there is a set of land deals in the name of Saunak Sodhi who cannot be traced. And the story is never complete in most Indian novels & web series without a bland crooked Baba and there is one – Rangdev Baba.

Inspector Saralkar’s characterisation as a grumpy person is average. The same holds for a lot of the other characters. In the latter sections of the book, the author tries too hard to make the plot interesting, and it gets to be fairly convoluted. The pace is good throughout and is to the credit of the book.


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