Into the Leopard’s Den by Harini Nagendra
My take on the book:
It was 1922 Bangalore; Kupamma who worked as a house help was attacked and killed in her single room house, and the attacker grabbed a book that she buried inside her hut, before running away. Few moments before dying, Kupamma asked Venu that Kaveri from the Bangalore Detectives Club finds the culprit; Kaveri who was pregnant has decided to take a break from being a detective until Venu showed the newspaper clip of Kaveri that Kupamma handed to him in her dying moments.
When Kaveri found a recent travel ticket of Kupamma to and fro Coorg, she decided to travel to Coorg to find further clues about Kupamma’s murder, on the pretext of staying with her husband Ramu who was setting up a new clinic in Coorg. The first day in Coorg was a haunting experience for Kaveri as she received an anonymous note warning her to return back to Bangalore.
The residents of Coorg had more troubles which they wanted Kaveri to help solve — a ghost leopard that scared the villagers from crossing the forest and multiple attempts of murder on Colonel Boyd. Along with solving Kupamma’s murder mystery, will Kaveri be able to solve the other mysteries in a new place amidst strangers, forms the rest of the story.
Kaveri Murthy is back to solve another murder mystery albeit in a new place with new characters involved. The story begins with Kupamma’s murder in Bangalore and quickly shifts to Coorg; the coffee plantations and politics around it in pre-Independence India, especially the hidden conflict between locals and the likes of Colonel Boyd are perfectly captured by the author. The characters are well layered and Kaveri struggles to uncover the clues as every character has their own share of secrets.
The number of characters are less which makes every one a suspect, but the way the author reveals the mystery slowly, especially in the second half makes the story intriguing. The backdrop of Coorg is the highlight of the story as the author transports the reader to Coorg a century ago — the marketplaces, the sacred forests, the coffee plantations, the palaces, the clubs frequented by the British.
The Bangalore Detectives Club series has been getting better with each installment in the series and this is definitely the best so far. Along with solving the murder mystery, the story in parallel also progresses Kaveri’s personal life and her characterisation is what holds the reader’s imagination throughout.
A periodical fiction blended with mystery, Into the Leopard’s Den makes for a gripping mystery.
My take on the book:
4.5/5.