The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

Grab a plate of hot samosas and pakodas and a glass of chilled lassi coz’ Harbinder Kaur is back. *plays bhangra music in the background*

Meet DS Harbinder Kaur, a 36-year-old, single, gay, and lives with her parents. There’s nothing suspicious about the death of a ninety-year-old Peggy with an existing heart condition. But when Peggy’s caretaker Natalka finds a card “Murder Consultant”. Peggy also seems to have had an unusual number of crime novels. Not just that, some of the authors thanked Peggy ‘for the murders’ in the acknowledgement section. Now, this is definitely suspicious. Uh-huh.

Natalka and the local coffee shack owner Benny are at Peggy’s apartment, cleaning, when a gunman barges in, grabs a copy of an out-of-print-golden-age-author and runs out. A renowned author – the one who thanked Peggy in the acknowledgement section – is killed. Harbinder begins to wonder if there is a relation between the two deaths.

The Postscript Murders is the second book in DS Harbinder Kaur series. Quirky, mind-blowing and a complete page-turner, I absolutely enjoyed reading this book.

Harbinder is cool, calm and a good detective. She knows the tips and tricks of the trade – be friendly with the suspects and juice the details out of them. Hum, hum! Harbinder living with her parents is a no shocker for me. I suppose “living with parents” is very common in Asia. It was also pretty interesting to note her parents pestering her to get married. Again, this is something very common in this part of the world. 😛

Natalka is from Ukraine and speaks impeccable English. Benny is an ex-monk-turned-coffee-shack-owner. Edwin lives at the same care home as Peggy did and was a good friend of hers. The trio decide to don their amateur detective hats and solve the mystery behind Peggy’s suspicious death. From coming face-to-face with a gunman to driving to Aberdeen for a literary festival (in search of clues), the trio add a quirky touch to the story.

Speaking of the trio, Benny is very observant – this helps Harbinder in gathering a vital clue or two.

When Natalka first approaches Harbinder claiming Peggy’s death as suspicious, Harbinder does not believe her. But curiosity gets the better of her and Harbinder decides to attend Peggy’s funeral. Then comes a phone call from Natalka saying she and Benny confronted a gunman, followed by the murder of a renowned author.

Harbinder and Neil are involved in finding the author’s killer so the amateur trio go to Aberdeen to interview a ‘suspect’. Soon, Harbinder follows them – things look bleak for the trio. There’s a killer on loose, after all.

The mystery behind the murder(s) kept me guessing until the end. The plot and character development is superb. Many twists in the second half of the story keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The final ‘twist’ blew my mind. Just when I thought all’s fine, there’s a twist. Tadaaa!

I am in awe of Elly Griffiths’ writing. The Postscript Murders is the first Griffiths book I read but it definitely won’t be the last. If you are a mystery lover, you might want to give The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths a try.

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Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC.

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