Murder, but lightly

You do not want this happening in your office, even if you happen to hate your bosses.

Death In The Deccan by author and journalist Aditya Sinha begins dramatically with four people dying of a heart attack on the same day, and yes, in the same office. The four were working in a publishing company based in Hyderabad that produces a newspaper titled ‘Deccan Testament’. If this reminds you, intentionally or otherwise, of a real newspaper in Hyderabad, well, it is as it is!

Three of the four dead are from the Reddy family, the former owners of the 75-year-old publication. We are told the Reddys filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and the firm was taken over by a company called ‘Shrek Fund’, after which Hyderabad went through multiple lockdowns, thanks to the Covid pandemic. The fourth victim is Sainath Rao, the Human Resources head at the newspaper, disliked by all because of his incessant scrimping. Who hates him enough to kill, is the question. Since it is an office full of disgruntled and overworked employees who haven’t been paid their salaries, motives and suspects are aplenty.

Sainath was found, Director General of Police G P Shrivastava tells the investigating officer ACP Mona Ramteke “...with his little fellow inside a tin of payasam.” Mona finds no humour in this macabre death but some readers might. Sinha tries this style throughout the narration — a little pun here, a clever-by-half name there, a nudge-nudge-wink-wink at fellow journalists. Sometimes, they work well. For instance, one of the dead is Sankatram while a shell company is called Waiting for Godown Pvt Ltd. Other times, the effort shows.

In short, this is a murder mystery that is written with a light touch and should be treated as such. A little less emphasis on Covid conspiracy theories and more focus on the plot itself would have taken the novel a notch higher. Still, enjoyable enough.