"Banquet on The Dead" by Sharath Komarraju

"Banquet on the Dead" is a detective fiction story written by the Indian writer Sharath Komarraju.

I bought it at a bookshop at a mall because I was looking for a not so thick, easy to finish book written by an Indian author in English.

My previous attempt to read a book by an unknown (to me) author was not a good experience as the writing seem to be a mess and full of mistakes.

I approached "Banquet on the Dead" a bit skeptically but from the first page onwards I loved the style that it was written in (short, clear and well thought of/edited sentences), great humor and a clear story/ problem to focus on. 

This was a classical crime novel written in a Agatha Christie's or Sherlock Holmes' type of way where a senior detective Nagarajan and a an older man -  Hamid Pasha (who was an ex con) try to solve the drowning (murder?) case of an old and wealthy grandma. 

They dive deep into the family business and question each and every family member. The story is well balanced between descriptions of only necessary people and places and dialogues, as every, crime novel is written in an 'interrogation' style. You can picture the scenes easily because they are so much like the TV show 'Crime Patrol".

Sharath Komarraju's work was quite interesting and easy to read. I can imagine a big number of readers being able to read and enjoy it. While it might seem sometimes too 'easy and simplistic', I think this story was perfect in a way that it was implemented. 

An excerpt from page 127: "Kamala's eyes blazed, and her voice broke. 'You know, sir,' she said, 'that is the problem with this house. People don't talk. People don't think about things. They don't solve things. They ignore them. They think that each incident in life is a one-off, and if you could gloss over one, you could gloss over all the others. They don't realize that everything is connected, that resentment builds over time if it is not nipped, that once hate topples over a little idiosyncrasies become huge fighting points; that people can be brought to a level where they would be ready to kill you because they don't like the way you smile or the way you tie your hair."

This was an excerpt that I just loved. The characters communicate some important truths and express valid points when it comes to the dynamics of a large joint family. Everyone who has lived in one, could relate.