Praying Mantis by R. V. Raman

 "Praying Mantis" by R. V. Raman - Whodunit! 

This book is published by Pushkin Press in 2023 and has 304 pages. This is Book 3 of Harith Atreya series.

Harith Atreya is a retired police investigator who does occasional private work. Javed, friend of Atreya, invites him to his hotel, a converted English structure, called Castle Dan, to look into a riddle. Five young individuals have checked-in in his hotel and although they know each other they pretend not to. The curious riddle turns into a murder investigation. The uncanny similarity of the death with another one few years ago complicates things.

Why are the five pretending not to know each other? Who is murdered? Can Atreya find the culprit? Whodunit?

There are limited characters of interest. The five individuals include Linda, friend of Javed’s daughter. Ipshita, the interior designer. Poorvi, search engine optimizer. Sarosh, the angel investor with strange mustache. Davak Strummer, a singer. In addition to them there is a couple. Kingshuk, fitness instructor & Mrinal his fiancée and a start up entrepreneur. And to round off the count there is Asma, Javed’s daughter. Mazin, Adma’s cousin and finally Javed, Atreya’s friend, retired police psychologist and owner of Castle Dan.

The story is interesting. A typical whodunit. There are several false trails and red herrings in the mix. Someone drugs Atreya. There is also the mystery of bloody hand to add to the complexity. Everyone has an opportunity. Several seem to have a motive too. Atreya has to wade through the information or the lack of it to get to the truth.

I had zeroed on two possible culprits and one of the two turned out to be the eventual killer.

The story keeps you interested and anticipation makes you read the book. All in all a good story.

Title of the book is fantastic. It fits the story perfectly.

Why did I read this book? Whodunit after a while.

What did I like? Interesting story. Title.

What I didn't like? Umm…. 

Recommend reading.