Publication Date: June 18, 2024
The White Lotus meets Knives Out meets Crazy Rich Asians in this devilishly entertaining debut novel: both a sophisticated locked-room mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie, and a provocative literary whodunit for the twenty-first century.
Ro Krishna is the American son of Indian parents, educated at the finest institutions, equally at home in London’s poshest clubs and on the squash court, but unmoored after he is dramatically forced to leave a high-profile job under mysterious circumstances. He decides it’s time to check in for some much-needed R&R at Samsara, a world-class spa for the global cosmopolitan elite nestled in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas. A person could be spiritually reborn in a place like this. Even a very rich person.
But a person—or several—could also die there. Samsara is the Sanskrit word for the karmic cycle of death and rebirth, after all. And as it turns out, the colorful cast of characters Ro meets—including a misanthropic politician; an American movie star preparing for his Bollywood crossover debut; a beautiful heiress to a family jewel fortune that barely survived Partition; and a bumbling white yogi inexplicably there to teach meditation—harbors a murderer among them. Maybe more than one.
As the death toll rises, Ro, a lawyer by training and a sleuth by circumstance, becomes embroiled in a vicious world under a gilded surface, where nothing is quite what it seems . . . including Ro himself. Death in the Air is a brilliant, teasing mystery from a remarkable new talent.
What starts as a relaxing vacation in India turns to murder in Death in the Air by Ram Murali.
Ro Krishna has just received life-changing news. After calling out his boss for her bad behavior, he has been given an out to leave his job with an NDA and plenty of compensation while his awful boss remains in power.
Trying to get some perspective and direction in his life, Ro makes the decision to travel back to his home country of India and relax at Samsara—a yoga and meditation resort. On his travels to India, he and his cousin decide to use a new pendulum they have found to connect to a spirit. And it is more successful than they could ever imagine. Pendy, as they have named the spirit attached to the pendulum, will change Ro’s life, for better or worse.
Arriving at Samsara, Ro quickly makes new friends and connects with old ones. One in particular that catches his eye is Amrita Dey, a bold and cunning woman with stunning turquoise eyes. But before Ro can dig deeper into Amrita, he finds her dead. What proceeds is an investigation with twists and turns you never see coming, and Death is not content with just one soul, but who is next?
Death in the Air is an excellent mystery. I appreciated that Ro is brought on to the investigation in a professional capacity, making him seem like a reliable investigator rather than an amateur. Everyone is a suspect and I truly was left guessing until the very end. And speaking of the end, I was shocked reading the last chapters. I could not believe the twist that Murali laid out, and it felt very unexpected yet also grounded in the characters as they were presented to us. For a first novel, Murali excels, and I cannot wait to see what he creates in the future.
Death in the Air is a mind-bending mystery that will leave you guessing until the very end. But be warned, not everyone is what they seem.
Ram Murali was born in New York, New York.
This is his first novel.
