The Village of Widows by Ravi Shankar Etteth

The Village of Widows

Ravi Shankar Etteth

The novel begins with the brutal and mysterious murder of a diplomat in the Madagascan embassy in Delhi. Two unlikely investigators - one a chess playing amateur, the other a jaded professional join forces in the hunt for the killer. Both have a past; and both are obsessed with evil. It's a trail that takes them deep into a world of corruption, deceit and family secrets.

Extract
'It was abnormal, the way you saw the murder in your mind. Almost as if you had done it yourself. 'Read Chesterton's Adventures of Father Brown. That gentle, Catholic priest becomes a murderer in his own mind each time evil is committed.' 'Do you, too, then become the murderer?' Anna asked. 'Worse, I become death's darkest angel, Samorin said, his voice twisted with a sudden, fierce pain.' I empathize with evil. I become its dark landscape, its bloody rivers flow through me, feeding the carniverous vegetation. And, within myself, I set a trap for the serpent.' I do not know anyone who talks like you,' Anna said, 'it's very melodramatic.'
Parallels
  • Bombay Ice by Leslie Forbes
  • The Tiger by the River by Ravi Shankar Etteth