A Will to Kill (A Harith Athreya Mystery)

This wildly entertaining cozy murder mystery set in India’s snowy Nilgiri Mountains features a fiendish family inheritance drama.

“A modern-day take on the classic locked-room murder mystery... Athreya is a fine detective with a curious mind.”  — The New York Times

Aging millionaire Bhaskar Fernandez has won his family property back after a bitter legal battle. Now, though wheelchair-bound, he has invited his relatives to the remote, and possibly haunted, Greybrooke Manor, a colonial-era mansion high up in the misty Nilgiris. It stands alone in an area said to be haunted by the ghost of an Englishman.

According to legend, every past owner of the house has died a violent death, and every future owner will die violently too.

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.

Fernandez also invites Detective Harith Athreya, a seasoned investigator, to watch what unfolds. His son, Manu Fernandez is as mistified by the situation as Athreya. When every member of the family has all to gain and all to lose, Detective Athreya must uncover truths no one is willing to reveal.

When the mountainous region produces a cataclysmic landslide, it renders the estate impossible to leave. A body is discovered – the victim’s throat has been cut, and Athreya finds that death is not the only thing that the mist conceals. . .

The 1st book in the internationally beloved Detective Harith Athreya series, this cinematic, expertly-plotted mystery provides a gripping tale of feuds, wealth, and fear in the mountains offering a perfect start for mystery fans’ next obsessive read.

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, with four subsequent novels in the series also available from Pushkin Vertigo.