Harith Athreya

A SUNDAY TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE MONTH AN OBSERVER THRILLER OF THE MONTH A NEW YORK TIMES RECOMMENDED BOOK A CRIMEREADS BEST MYSTERY OF 2020 ‘Hugely entertaining… set in modern-day India but its origins lie in the golden age of crime fiction’ Sunday Times ‘A slice of sheer...

An archeological team is excavating on the banks of the Betwa River near Jahnsi. A place where, legend has it, a couple forbidden to marry had run away to be together — forever cursing anyone who dares set foot on the island. When the head of the expedition defies the myth, the fallout is swift and deadly, the body found exactly as the ancient stories describe. Is the death a result of the ancient curse, or is it a down-to-earth case of murder?

Harith Athreya is taking a well-earned break at a boutique hotel in the Himalayan foothills. But his holiday is swiftly cut short when mysterious bloody handprints start appearing on the walls around the resort. When a woman then falls to her death, chaos and confusion reigns. The hotelier is convinced that the key to the case rests with four other young people who checked in at the same time as the victim, all pretending for some reason not to know each other.

Detective Harith Athreya is recuperating from an illness in the beautiful backwaters of Kerala when he stumbles into a new form of intrigue: a family of vacationing Bollywood royalty who want his help making a murder mystery film. But not all is as it seems with the family - there are rumours of major money troubles, links to organised crime and growing rivalries between the scions. One of them is found dead, murdered in the exact manner of the film that Athreya has been helping to put together. Is this the work of an angry costar or something more sinister?

Seasoned detective Harith Athreya is back, this time to investigate suspicious incidences on a riverside dig in the heart of remote Bundelkhand. In this place, rich in myth and history, the legend goes that anyone who sets foot on nearby island Naaz Tapu would be cursed forever. When an archaeologist defies local folklore, the fallout is swift and deadly. Is the death a result of the ancient curse–or a more down-to-earth case of murder? Athreya needs to unravel the truth from legend before the curse strikes again...