Death of the Reader

We discuss chapters 27-36 of Sujata Massey's 'The Bombay Prince', the third novel in the Perveen Mistry series. Veering from disarmingly peaceful to chaotically confronting effortlessly and bewilderingly, Perveen Mistry is on the tail of Freny's killer, but someone else is on hers. Can justice be done before the danger proves too great? Will Herds finally get to witness the almighty kiss he's been...

We discuss chapters 13-26 of Sujata Massey's 'The Bombay Prince', the third novel in the Perveen Mistry series. The courts begin inquiries to the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, and Perveen has already made enemies that threaten to get in the way of fair conduct. Drama about finances around the school also bring the staff into question, but can Perveen break through the institution's legal defence?...

We discuss chapters 1-12 of Sujata Massey's 'The Bombay Prince', the third novel in the Perveen Mistry series. A young Freny Cuttingmaster visits Perveen at her office, inquiring about her legal options for avoiding the procession of Prince Edward. When Perveen goes to see the procession days later, Freny's corpse is found with her head smashed in, and the local police begin carelessly preparing t...

We discuss chapters 17-21 in RV Raman's latest Harith Athreya mystery 'A Dire Isle'. After an ominous encounter on Naaz Tapu, the case is starting to come together. Discovery after discovery points Athreya in the direction of the Bronze Runners, and the ironies of their malpractice. The unveiling of military involvement in the area changes the tone of the investigation as new players emerge and ol...

We discuss chapters 9-16 in RV Raman's latest Harith Athreya mystery 'A Dire Isle'. In the aftermath of the murder of an archaeological dig, Harith and Inspector Bhupinder get to work interrogating the staff, to close in on the murderer. With various staff knowing more than they should, and some confessing to things distant in their past, how deep can the motive go? As the case goes on, the haunte...

We discuss chapters 1-8 in RV Raman's latest Harith Athreya mystery 'A Dire Isle'. Liam Dunne has requested Athreya's aid in investigating possible financial fraud at an archaeological dig-site in Bundelkhand. When the dig's director is slain on a mysterious, haunted island nearby, the supernatural comes knocking, and Athreya finds himself put to the test in the investigation. We're also joined by...

It's a full-spoilers affair as we dive into Abir Mukherjee's latest thriller, The Shadows of Men. As seems to be becoming tradition around here, we keep asking authors so many questions that it just doesn't fit in the damned show. From how loose cannons unleash your story, to his dissatisfaction with the previous novel 'Death in the East', to accusing us of poo-pooing an important character detail...

We discuss chapters 44-65 of Abir Mukherjee's latest thriller, The Shadows of Men. Finally reunited, Sam and Suren split up again to investigate their latest lead in the death of Prashant Mukherjee. Sam finds his way into a party with Bombay's affluent big spenders, while Surendrenath adds breaking and entering to his list of charges. Their efforts yield clues to impending chaos at a public protes...

We discuss chapters 19-43 of Abir Mukherjee's latest thriller, The Shadows of Men. Sam and Suren reunite with the elusive Colonel Dawson, who is both laden with revelations, and cut out from the revelations they actually need. In search of the remaining clues, Dawson flies them out to a familiar hill in Bombay, where they can corner their lead suspect, Farid Gulmohamed, and hopefully wrap this all...

We discuss chapters 1-18 of Abir Mukherjee's latest thriller, The Shadows of Men. Taking a step away from our normal fair-play pastures, The Shadows of Men plants us in 1923 Calcutta, where Sergeant Surendrenath 'Surrender-Not' Banerjee has found himself arrested over the murder and attempted arson of Hindu thought leader Prashant Mukherjee. Captain Sam Wyndham bails him out of jail, but then the...

We discuss the upcoming animated series 'The Art of Murder' from Melbourne's Choc Chip Animation Studios with studio leads Nirali and Anokhi Somaia. Following the story of a young artist as her creations come to life, a murder occurs in the pages of her artbook, and the game, as they say, is afoot. Featuring music by Sonya Belousova and Gionna Ostinelli of ‘The Witcher’ fame (hear more about that...

We discuss Kenneth Branagh's new adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic Poirot novel 'Death on the Nile'. It's spoiler free for the first five minutes! Hercule Poirot just so happens to run into his friend Bouc near Cairo, and Bouc invites him to the wedding party that the young socialite is there to attend. Poirot begrudgingly accepts, and finds himself celebrating the marriage of the Doyles, wh...

We discuss Vaseem Khan's 'Malabar House' series, and its latest installment 'The Dying Day' with the author himself. It seems we didn't manage to scare him off enough last time. From his thoughts on the classic 'will-they-won't-they' plot, to why certain characters did and didn't make the cut between the two novels, we sink our teeth into this historical adventure. Go take a listen to Vaseem's wor...

We discuss chapters 32-48 of Vaseem Khan's historical crime novel, 'The Dying Day'. After a near-death run in with a shadowy figure in her father's bookshop, Persis has finally realised who John Healy was on the run from; Nazis. Now in a life-or-death game to track down The Divine Comedy before they do, a final riddle will be the deciding game - but what if she leads them right there? The stakes a...

We discuss chapters 16-31 of Vaseem Khan's historical crime novel, 'The Dying Day'. A new riddle found on the thigh of the freshly-deceased scholar John Healy only piles more questions onto Persis Wadia's lap. Healy's list of contacts have little to say of his potential motive, until the unrelated murder investigation Fernandes is leading starts to join some dots. As past wounds are dug open, can...

We discuss chapters 1-15 of Vaseem Khan's riddle-laden historical romp, 'The Dying Day'. Just days after narrowly defusing one political bomb in 'Midnight at Malabar House', another lands in Inspector Persis Wadia's lap, as she is put on the hunt of a priceless copy of Dante's Divine Comedy. The scholar who was translating it has taken it, leaving behind a bizarre trail of clues and no straight an...

It’s time for the crown. The Sulari Gentill Award for the most-recommended mystery novel of the year for Death of the Reader goes to, Sulari Gentill, and her 2018 book ‘Crossing the Lines’, also known as ‘After She Wrote Him’, or ‘A Line Once Crossed’ by me and like two other fans. Crossing the Lines makes a compelling case for why a sense of uncertainty can be a blessing in fiction, and it can re...

Yukito Ayatsuji’s 'The Decagon House Murders' takes out second place for our recommendations, this Review Season. The novel achieves the rare feat of taking one of the most highly regarded mysteries of all time, spoofing it, and somehow, besting it. It’s incredibly clever, astonishingly memorable, and as the current wave of shin-honkaku translations hopefully continues, you will love seeing the wo...

For our final week of Review Season, Herds is set to deliver you into the third-last stop on our journey to rank our recommendations of all the murder mystery stories that we’ve enjoyed over the course of this year. Today, the unforgettable commercial-failure cult-classic train-mystery remembered as The Last Express by Jordan Mechner, a murder mystery video game that truly is one of a kind and tha...

Coming in fourth place on our recommendations for 2021 is 'The Tokyo Zodiac Murders' by Soji Shimada. Written in 1981 and considered to be the grandfather of Shin-Honkaku mystery (also known as modern deduction-based mysteries) it employs a combination of astrology and alchemy, straight up wizards, and hard clues to construct a devilish puzzle with an ending twist solution that would be quite the...

Richard Osman’s 'The Thursday Murder Club' comes in fifth place for our 2021 recommendations. One of the best-selling books in recent memory, this astonishingly accessible modern crime romp is a treasure, and I’m so grateful we got to feature it on the show. Television presenter Richard Osman debuted into crime fiction in 2020 with a mystery that took the classic mystery-club-out-of-their-depth fo...

Coming in at sixth place for our 2021 recommendations on Review Season is Emma Stonex's 'The Lamplighters'. One of the sad necessities of review season is that in order to numb the pain of making our list, criteria are king, and that often places our personal favourites outside the podium. The Lamplighters, is such a case. This haunting, lyrical and enveloping exploration into an impossible crime...

If you peer just off the starboard bow you’ll be able to spot our 7th place entry into Review Season this year coming just over the horizon, but be warned, monsters spotted in the ocean may be larger than they appear… 'Return of the Obra Dinn' is a 2018 released video game by one Lucas Pope of 'Papers Please' fame, and once again tasks himself with making mundane bureaucracy fun for the whole fami...

In 8th place for Review Season we will be recommending the lovely, the horrific, the whimsical 'Murder in Old Bombay' by Nev March. If you need any proof at all that every novel is beloved on this show then listen no further than the out pouring of love that Herds gives today. Are you looking to read an epic tale that is exactly one third murder mystery, one third romance, and one third war drama?...

In 9th place we have (and Knox help me on this ranking) 'And Then There Were None' by Agatha Christie, circa 1939. One of, if not the, best codifiers for the closed circle/farmhouse/impossible crime trifecta in the murder mystery space. It is into this mindset we must submerge ourselves to truly understand how Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None came to be, and how it’s construction is held...