"A nice quiet holiday" a debut novel by Aditya Sudarshan. This is a murder mystery.
Anant, the narrator and a young lawyer, works as law cleark to Justice Shinde. Shinde decides to take Anant with him to a nice quiet holiday, in the mountains, to Bhairavgadh at his friend Shikhar Pant's house. A number of guests are invited. Pant's writer cousin (Kailash), a couple (Mittal's) who run a NGO for AIDS, Pant's friend (Mr. Anand) with his young son (Avinash) & Pant's family homeopath (Dr. Nath) with his two sons and young beautiful daughter (Mallika). There are two servants and a dog in the house in addition to this ensemble.
There is a public unrest against the NGO for publishing obscene material. Kailash's influence avoids arrest of Mittal's. Then Kailash is murdered. The judge encourages Anant to become amateur investigator. He startes investigating and at the same time is smitten by Mallika's charms.
A book goes missing with other unrelated things, children who are playing hide and seek give a clue, there is a blackmailer, there seems to be no motive for murder. Anant stumbles and fumbles trying to find clues and reports to the judge.
Who is the murderer? Is he in the house? Is there another murder? How is the murderer identified? What role does the judge play?
In a murder mystery you expect at least some and preferably many twists. Needle of suspicion should always be pointing to someone and change as the story goes. In this story, no one is a suspect. You hardly feel that an investigation is ongoing.
Love story takes front seat in one section over mystery. Story is slow and uninteresting. Motive for murder is also not very convincing. Book doesn't end for a while, even after the murderer is caught and motives and deductions are explained.
The book is insipid. Avoid.
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