THE FIRST IN A NEW SERIES THAT IS EVERYTHING WE LOVE ABOUT COSY CRIME - A SECLUDED MANOR HOUSE, RELATIVES WITH NEFARIOUS MOTIVES AND A PERPLEXING MURDER - SET IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA
A SUNDAY TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE MONTH
AN OBSERVER THRILLER OF THE MONTH
A NEW YORK TIMES RECOMMENDED BOOK
A CRIMEREADS BEST MYSTERY OF 2020
'Hugely entertaining... set in modern-day India but its origins lie in the golden age of crime fiction' Sunday Times
'A slice of sheer pleasure... a proper, thorny puzzle' Observer
'Like stepping back to the Golden Age of the classic mystery' Rhys Bowen, international bestselling author of The Tuscan Child
_______
MIST
Ageing millionaire Bhaskar Fernandez has invited his relatives to the remote, and possibly haunted, Greybrooke Manor, high up in the misty Nilgiris.
MOUNTAINS
He knows his guests expect to gain from his death, so he writes two conflicting wills. Which one of them comes into force will depend on how he dies.
MURDER
Fernandez also invites Harith Athreya, a seasoned investigator, to watch what unfolds.
When a landslide leaves the estate temporarily isolated, and a body is discovered, Athreya finds that death is not the only thing that the mist conceals. . .
Your next cosy crime fix - perfect for fans of Golden Age crime, Knives Out and Lucy Foley
_______
MORE PRAISE FOR A WILL TO KILL
'Brilliantly evokes Agatha Christie's classic country-estate mysteries for modern-day India' CrimeReads, Best Mysteries of 2020
'An enchanting setting in the Indian Hill country. . . a modern twist on a traditional whodunit' Ann Granger, author of the Campbell and Carter detective series
'I love RV Raman's Harith Athreya. . . A good traditional mystery with twists and turns' Ovidia Yu, author of CWA-shortlisted The Mimosa Tree Mystery
'The influence of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr on the narrative is compelling. . . influences of author Ngaio Marsh. . . subtle, clear, ironic, but always elegant and peppered with wit; characters sharply, sometimes hilariously, drawn' Telegraph India
_______
READERS LOVE A WILL TO KILL
'This is an enjoyable classic whodunit involving an array of characters within a feuding family. . . [it] has an old-fashioned charm and is all the better for leaving the reader guessing who and why until the last pages. . .'
'Entertaining and engaging. . .'
'A nod to the Golden Age of crime in an entertaining and engaging mystery with a genuine puzzle at its heart. . .A promising start to a series'
About the Author :
Following a corporate career spanning three decades and four continents, RV RAMAN now lectures on management, mentors young entrepreneurs, serves as an independent director on company boards, and writes. A Will to Kill is the first novel in the Harith Athreya series. A Dire Isle, the next Harith Athreya mystery, is forthcoming from Pushkin Vertigo in 2022. RV Raman lives in Chennai.
www.rvraman.com
Review :
RV Raman's hugely engaging novel A Will to Kill is set in modern-day India, but its origins lie in the golden age of crime fiction. . . Raman makes the most of his version of a locked-room mystery, endowing Athreya with an omniscience rarely seen in today's jaded detectives
A slice of sheer pleasure: a locked-room mystery that blends the feel of classic crime with the modern world, while presenting a proper, thorny puzzle
Like stepping back to the Golden Age of the classic mystery
A delightful modern take on a traditional country house mystery
Hugely engaging
I love RV Raman's Harith Athreya with his cool, curious resourcefulness. A Will To Kill is a good traditional mystery with twists and turns set in a colonial era mansion in the Nilgiri Hills
A mystery with an enchanting setting in the Indian Hill country. A cast of interesting characters and a modern twist on a traditional whodunit. A delightful read
Twisty
A modern-day take on the classic locked-room murder mystery... Athreya is a fine detective with a curious mind
The influence of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr on the narrative is compelling... subtle, clear, ironic, but always elegant and peppered with wit; characters sharply, sometimes hilariously, drawn
Raman has a creative touch when deploying Golden Age mystery tropes and he blends them well into his setting. Furthermore, Athreya is a pleasant investigator to follow, who the reader can easily warm to. I am interested to see what direction the series goes in next
We may not have our own Sherlock or Poirot, but the narrative tradition of Christie and Doyle has found a worthy successor in RV Raman. I cannot wait to read more of Harith Athreya's adventures
A Will To Kill is an excellent novel... Author RV Raman's writing is quick and on edge
It stands out from the pack not just for its writing and the plot, but also because it takes you back to the days when clean, knotty mysteries were the norm
Brilliantly evokes Agatha Christie's classic country estate mysteries for modern-day India... an ingenious plot, and Raman takes obvious delight in teasing out the suspense to great effect
Fans of the film Knives Out and Agatha Christie novels will love A Will To Kill... It's camp, dramatic, a bit silly and has plenty of twists and turns - exactly the kind of thing you want to read during this time of year
An outright whodunit homage to the meticulous novels of detection of the likes of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, this is great fun, carefully-plotted and featuring a cast of characters alternating between suspects and victims, with just the right amount of twists and retrospective revelations. Mighty fun!
'Raman clearly loves golden age crime and has fun riffing on the tropes and, of course, this is a classic locked-room-mystery. A who-dunnit in the vein of Agatha Christie. But it is more than a simple homage, it has its own style. This is the first of an intriguing new series set to add a distinctly Indian character to a classic sub-genre... very entertaining'
