Rambha Gadgil was the first girl I knew who read real murder mysteries. At age 9 she had long since left the world of Enid Blyton’s imaginary world of the Five Findouters and the Secret Seven . She had entered the world of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot and we looked at her with awe as she walked around with her ‘detective novels’ tucked away in her bag. And not only did she read the books but also figured out the murderer long before the last page!

Thus my fascination with murder mysteries was more fuelled and for a long time I devoured them. However, like all overdosing, I tired of this genre and it was only recently ( once again on the recommendation of Mr. Kinni) that I picked up two thrillers that completely caught my attention.

Bella Mackie has written a murder mystery in Agatha Christie style where one of the people who attended Anthony Wistern’s 60th birthday is a possible suspect and responsible for his dramatic death bang in the middle of the celebrations.

Typically rich and dysfunctional family who are not very popular with the village folks, the story slowly unfolds in a series of narratives by the various family members. What is most interesting is the way in which the story is crafted – through a unique concept of a halfway home on the way to the afterlife.

Each of the narrators has a motive to see Anthony dead but which one of them really did it?

Read this fascinating tale, part funny, part cynical and definitely unputdownable story to find out who is the actual murderer

Ciao,