Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

A long stressful week and I know I have to pick up a mystery from Christie in the weekend.

Gwenda, a newly married girl, is searching for a house  to settle down in England. She is new to England and finally finds her perfect home in an English countryside. Everything was going on well till she understands that she seems to know much more about the house than she should know. She almost believes that she is mad when she remembers seeing a dead body in the hall. It is now that Miss Jane Marple comes to her rescue. She helps Gwenda to realize that she had actually lived in the house as a small child and that is how she knows about the house so well. And the next important question is : Was a murder  really committed in the house?. Miss Marple tries to discourage them from digging into the "sleeping murder" but Gwenda and her husband are very enthusiastic about it. Unknowingly, they were inviting danger to their doorstep. But there always is Miss Marple to the help.

This is one of my favourite Hercule Poirot mysteries and there is no one like Christie who can handle murder-in-the-past plots. Sleeping Murder just establishes her as The Queen of Crime beyond doubt.

A good mystery from Christie, 3 out of 5.

Trivia : This is the last Miss Marple mystery, published posthumously in 1976.

Manju(Snow) by M T Vasudevan Nair

This short novel by one of the most gifted Malayalam writers made me think about something very inevitable in our life; something  that will make you excited,  sometimes desperate, sometimes disappointed. It is a verb, a noun, a pronoun and a feeling...Yes, Manju made me think about "waiting". 

This is a story of people, in a faraway hill station, each of them waiting for someone. Vimala, a teacher in a residential school, is waiting for  Sudheer , who, touched her heart years before. Buddhu, the boatman, is waiting for his father, who he has never seen, to come back.  When the hill station is getting ready to welcome tourists, these people are waiting for some tourists to come back and give meaning and hope to their lives.

In spite of being a novella, the main protagonist, Vimala, is a well-defined character. Her life, family background, emotional setup etc are well-etched. The other characters who appear in between somehow supplements her loneliness.

A well narrated story. 3.5 out of 5.

Trivia: made into a movie later.

Picture courtesy: indulekha.biz

Now Let Me Sleep (Ini Njan Urangatte) by P.K Balakrishnan

Mahabharatha is undoubtedly the great epic of India.  But I would always like to see it as a great text of human psychology, strategy , politics and diplomacy. This is my second book related to Mahabharatha after this.

Kurukshetra war is over, Pandavas won the kingdom, although they lost most of their allies and relatives in the war and the post-war massacre. It is at this point that Kunthi reveals to the Pandava brothers that Karna is her eldest son. Yudhistira is devastated hearing this and decides to renounce his throne.This is a shock to Draupadi who was hoping to finally find justice after war. A sudden declaration from Kunthi is not strong enough for Draupadi to consider Karna in a new light. The way she always picturised Karna was how he sat in the Kaurava court and laughed when she was being disrobed by Dusshassana.

Now the story of Karna gradually unfolds, through Draupadi's eyes. In the words of many of her friends and relatives, including Krishna, Kunthi and Sanjaya, Draupadi starts to see the real Karna. Karna is growing now, in Draupadi's as well as readers' eyes.

Unlike Randamoozham, this work is based on well known facts. Though Karna is a much-written-about epic figure, Karna-in-Draupadi's-perspective is a refreshing take on his life.

Will not replace Randamoozham as my favourite work in this genre, but still a good work. 3.75 out of 5.