Death in the Air by Ram Murali

Ram Murali’s debut crime novel jumps on the recent Agatha Christie-style crime renaissance in which amateur (or professional) sleuths solve crimes in exclusive locations full of wealthy people. In the case of Death in the Air, that location is a spa retreat in India called Samsara. Unfortunately, while Murali understands some of the tropes of the genre, he is unable to deliver a satisfying whodunnit.

The first fifty pages of Death in the Air is what can only be called unnecessary prologue. Readers are introduced to disgraced lawyer Rohan Krishna, who has been forced to leave his high profile job for… reasons and wants some sort of revenge. None of this is remotely relevant to the story to follow so much that it feels like Murali wrote some backstory for his protagonist and felt he just had to use it. The action finally picks up when Ro finds himself at an exclusive spa retreat in India. To help give the old school Christie feel (and negate the use of phones as much as possible), everyone there communicates by notepaper (except when they don’t) again for… reasons. But there is still another sixty pages of introduction to the rich list that Ro is holidaying with before anything actually happens and someone is mysteriously killed. Again, for reasons, Ro is allowed to participate in the police investigation into the killing.

When the first killing finally happens, Death in the Air becomes more procedural. A procedural in which Ro and another character are fairly randomly included in the police investigation. Witnesses are questioned, the murder is re-enacted, suspects emerge, alibis are tested. Until, of course, Ro finally cracks the case like this:

Keys. Eyes. Eyes.
Earrings. Passports.
Eyes. Unreadable eyes.
Ears. Watches. Fur.
Switzerland. Keys.
Passport.
Wrist. Fur.

This is not a spoiler. Firstly, because it makes no sense. Secondly, because it mainly just references ‘clues’ here have already been explored in the investigation (an expensive watch in particular). And thirdly because, even so, there is no way readers are going to pick the murderer. The whole solution, while hinted at, comes completely out of the blue. Never mind, the sections of the book in which Ro seems to take advice by asking yes/no questions to a crystal pendulum which he nicknames “pendy”.

Aside from the murder mystery itself, the thing that Murali seems to want to celebrate in this book is the lives of the ultra-rich. Top universities get name checked as do luxury brands. This could possibly have worked if it was done in a critical or satirical way but none of that depth of approach is evident. The upshot is that this becomes a narrative that is just really wealthy or successful people being wealthy and successful (and a murder or two).

Death in the Air is a debut novel and Murali shows that he is able to deliver character and location. Unfortunately, what he fails to deliver is a particularly engaging, logical or coherent murder mystery. The Agatha Christie-approach to crime writing provides a useful scaffold, but that is all it is. It takes more than just recreating pieces of that scaffold to deliver a great crime novel.

Death in the Air by Ram Murali

5

5.0/10