‘Was it a Murder?’ by Anuj Singhal and Ritika Singhal is a perfect detective novel as this piece has all the traits that a Sherlock Homes novel have. While I was reading this book, I was reminded of a detective short story by Graham Greene that was full of suspense till the end. I can happily say that this book is an interesting read. Lets analyse it critically :
Cover- The cover of the book is white in color and has a woman whose lying on the floor and besides her their is a bottle of poison. This gives us an insight of a murder mystery.
Title- The title ‘Was it a Murder?’ is more than perfect as the whole story revolves around it.
Plot- The plot is constructed artistically. This is a story of a detective, Abhay Savarkar, who solves the mysteries of two murders taken place at his friend, George’s mansion. A series of events take place and a big doubt is built whether it was a suicide or a murder. The twist and turns in the story is the strongest point. The plot is gripping and bind the readers to read it till the end.
Theme- The whole story focuses on the theme of murder which happens in a mysterious way and that leads to another murder. These murders sound natural but have some hidden facts which Abhay Savarkar with the help of Inspector GopiNath and his assistant Yash tries to find out. There are other themes which are minor and are not much of importance.
Characterization- The portrayal of characters is impressive and all the characters are different. The main protagonist is Abhay Savarkar and the whole story revolves around his verdict on these murders. He is a complicated character and not an easy nut to crack. He do everything for a reason and he could sense people’s mind by their behavior. He is a caring friend who went to George’s place and helped him till the end even though George couldn’t trust him for long. He is a true friend indeed. He has a sharp brain and even was a kind master as we see the relationship he had with Yash. Both were ready to help each other.
Whereas Ms. Rose is a mysterious lady who had lots of secrets stored in her heart. Even she is considered as the suspect because the clues are against her. She is a caring sister though yet she is a neglected soul. She had the motive to kill her mother and her brother’s wife yet it wasn’t proved that she was the culprit.
Ms. Laranya was a tough nut to crack. She was a mischievious lady. Even her mother tried hard to support her. She was beautiful and had a lot of attitude. She was indeed a round character in the novel.
Style- This is a detective novel with impersonal description and third person narrative. The sentences had variety in it. Whereas the language was simple, lucid and clear. It had brevity in it. The way authors have described the surroundings or the scenes is impeccable. The authors wrote to the point and were not digressive.
Error- There were no major errors as such just a minor ones and some words were missing. There was one scene which sounded off scene : chapter7; in this scene Abhay is in a hurry to reach Granny’s room and he notices all the surroundings. I personally feel when a person is in a hurry he doesn’t get a nanosecond to check the surroundings. This scene could have been added a bit later. This is my observation but I do respect author’s point of view as I had a word with him. He said he wanted to show the presence of mind of the character.
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About the Authors
Anuj Singhal
Anuj is the author of “Was It A MURDER?” which is a detective fiction published by Authors’ Ink Publications. He is also a contributor in the anthology Crush 2 : An incomplete Heartbreak. He is currently pursuing his BTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Ambala college of Engineering, Ambala. His interests include creative Writing, poetry and reading novels. Currently, Anuj resides in Ambala Cantt with his parents. Apart from being a student and an author, he loves poetry and won various prizes at school and college level.
official site : http://www.ultimatesinghal.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ultimatesinghal
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoranujsinghal
E-Mail: [email protected]
Ritika Singhal:
Ritika is MTech in Computer Science Engineering and is currently working in an MNC in Bangalore. She has been a gold medalist throughout her education. Her interests include technical paper writing, writing stories and Reading books. Currently, Ritika resides in Bangalore with her husband and daughter.
