'Death In Shambles' by Stephen Alter is an unhurried murder mystery in the hills
Book Title: Death In Shambles
Author: Stephen Alter
Chandni S Chandel
IPS officer Lionel Carmichael, a loner, retires to the hills on early superannuation after he has a falling-out with a politician — something quite common in India. A few months into it, the local SHO seeks his help in solving a double-murder mystery involving a godman and his follower.
With over 20 books of fiction and non-fiction under his belt, author Stephen Alter has done a marvellous job with this hill station murder mystery. ‘Death in Shambles’ is a continuation of his book ‘Neglected Lives’, a novel about youthful romance he wrote in 1978. It was based in a fictional town, Debrakot, with his hometown Mussoorie in mind. With the same protagonist and the same town as the backdrop, this book is a first-person account of a retired cop who lives in the vintage hill town.
Alter has interspersed the story with pregnant one-liners like ‘Justice is a word that is often used with a false sense of surety as if it were an absolute noun, like life or death’, while apprising the readers about the murdered godman who is not an ‘innocent victim’.
The book quite consciously highlights the working of the online business industry that is at the root of many crimes. It is quite an eye-opener for the uninitiated who don’t realise that online content, which appears at the click of a button, is a behemoth. While unravelling the mystery, the story seamlessly rakes up another issue, that of village folks following occult practices while city dwellers make a beeline to business-driven godmen.
The fine description and detailing of how the police operates, how people come under the lens of suspicion and the tricks police officials employ to get to the culprit, all add to the originality of the book. In one instance, the writer, through the protagonist, says: “When you’re trying to get information out of someone, the silences are often as important as the questions.”
“Over the years, I have learned to read the disheveled contours of unmade beds as carefully as a palmist examines the creased lines on a person’s hand,” the author writes while depicting the astuteness of an upright and sharp police officer. The officer holding an animal sacrifice to get to the culprit confuses everybody, but the reader can decipher his intention. An SHO letting a suspect off by allowing him a chance to flee is also one of the means to reach to the main culprit. The characters have been carved on the lines of a potboiler with a godman, city-bred socialites living in British homes, village folk, a rich man trying to save his reputation, unemployed youth and the police. The murder mystery unfolds as one of the suspects for whom the police officer has laid a bait, walks into Lionel’s house with the details.
The writer succeeds in maintaining consistency, creating the right atmosphere and a little bit of suspense as one flips through the pages without being in a hurry.
