Group Read May 2018 - Three and a Half Murders by Salil Desai

cynic

The votes are in and Three and a Half Murders by Salil Desai has been chosen as the Group Read of the month.

3 and a Half Murders by Salil Desai



Two corpses . . . a woman lying dead on her bed, a man hanging from the ceiling fan.
A suicide note cum murder confession.
And a name . . . Shaunak Sodhi.

When the case comes their way, Senior Inspector Saralkar has just been diagnosed with hypertension and PSI Motkar is busy with rehearsals of an amateur play.

What appears at first to be a commonplace crime by a debt-ridden, cuckolded husband, who has killed his unfaithful wife and then hung himself, soon begins to unfold as a baffling mystery.

As clues point to a seven-year-old unsolved murder in Bangalore and other leads emerge closer home, Saralkar and Motkar find themselves investigating shady secrets, bitter grudges, fishy land deals, carnal desires, the dead woman Anushka Doshi’s sinister obsession with past life regression and her husband’s links to a suspicious, small-time god-man, Rangdev Baba. And then, suddenly, the murderer resurfaces and yet another life is in grave danger . . .

Can Saralkar and Motkar get to the bottom of an unimaginably shocking motive and stop the malevolent killer from committing the fourth murder . . .?


The book is available for download at https://www.craxme.com/forum.php ... 210&page=1#pid13795

Members are requested to join in. Please use this thread to discuss the book. Let's make reading together enjoyable.

nike1234

Done..Finished reading the book, as pallaviachrekar wrote, it is gripping till the end.

jhsurti

pallaviachrekar 2-5-2018 02:15 PM
This is a police procedural. Very gripping till the very end. Highly recommended. Can discuss once m ...

Agree. But will wait till others finish.

pallaviachrekar

This is a police procedural. Very gripping till the very end. Highly recommended. Can discuss once members are done reading the book.

Mousetrap

Finished the book. Gripping as others mentioned and witty - loved it, except for a statement towards the end of the novel that kind of ticked me off a bit. Ready to discuss when others are done reading.

cynic

It has already been a week in. Please feel free to discuss the book . The rest of us will join in when we finish.

Mousetrap

Okay, so yes, the book was really engrossing and I couldn't wait to reach the end. I think anybody would get a hunch while reading what the witnesses described about Anushka for early clues. I liked the character portrayals of Saralkar and Motkar and I'm happy to note that all characters are realistic and very human. No cardboard characters and not a boring page. In fact, reading the last few pages was the only thing I didn't enjoy because it typically ends (unrealistically, in my opinion) with the criminal making a detailed confession, filling up all the gaps of information that the reader needs. Duh!

And the statement in the last chapter that ticked me off was this:

“By the way, you proved that saying right—the female of the species is deadlier than the male.... Bravo! kudos to woman power!"

There is certainly no truth in that, especially not within the context of who the murderer is. Also, it adds an unnecessary sexist remark in an otherwise neutral and thoroughly enjoyable book.

booklover1980

Am still unable to get the book since I am still a newbie. Joined the forum today itself but was active on ucweb. Will wait till i get the requisite hours and pointa to become a reader

jhsurti

booklover1980 8-5-2018 02:35 PM
Am still unable to get the book since I am still a newbie. Joined the forum today itself but was act ...

Try on mobilism if you can't download from here. Better still, be active in the groups, collect the required credits and you will be able to access the Reading Room in no time!

booklover1980

Sure, thanks a lot for the advice.