MIST, MOUNTAINS, MURDER. Ageing millionaire Bhaskar Fernandez has invited his relatives to the remote, and possibly haunted, Greybrooke Manor, high up in the misty Nilgiris. He knows his guests expect to gain from his death, so he writes two conflicting wills. Which one of them comes into force will depend on how he dies. Fernandez also invites Harith Athreya, a seasoned investigator, to watch what unfolds. When a landslide leaves the estate temporarily isolated, and a body is discovered, Athreya finds that death is not the only thing that the mist conceals. . .

"RV Raman's hugely engaging novel A Will to Kill is set in modern-day India, but its origins lie in the golden age of crime fiction. . . Raman makes the most of his version of a locked-room mystery, endowing Athreya with an omniscience rarely seen in today's jaded detectives" - Sunday Times

"A slice of sheer pleasure: a locked-room mystery that blends the feel of classic crime with the modern world, while presenting a proper, thorny puzzle" - Observer

"A delightful modern take on a traditional country house mystery" - Sunday Times Crime Club

"Hugely engaging" - Sunday Times Culture, Books of the Month

"Twisty" - Independent

"A modern-day take on the classic locked-room murder mystery... Athreya is a fine detective with a curious mind" - New York Times

"The influence of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr on the narrative is compelling... subtle, clear, ironic, but always elegant and peppered with wit; characters sharply, sometimes hilariously, drawn" - Telegraph, India

"Raman has a creative touch when deploying Golden Age mystery tropes and he blends them well into his setting. Furthermore, Athreya is a pleasant investigator to follow, who the reader can easily warm to. I am interested to see what direction the series goes in next" - Cross Examining Crime

"We may not have our own Sherlock or Poirot, but the narrative tradition of Christie and Doyle has found a worthy successor in RV Raman. I cannot wait to read more of Harith Athreya's adventures" - National Herald India

"A Will To Kill is an excellent novel... Author RV Raman's writing is quick and on edge" - Bookish Elf

"It stands out from the pack not just for its writing and the plot, but also because it takes you back to the days when clean, knotty mysteries were the norm" - Papyrus Reviews

"Brilliantly evokes Agatha Christie's classic country estate mysteries for modern-day India... an ingenious plot, and Raman takes obvious delight in teasing out the suspense to great effect" - Crimereads, Best Mysteries of 2020

"Fans of the film Knives Out and Agatha Christie novels will love A Will To Kill... It's camp, dramatic, a bit silly and has plenty of twists and turns - exactly the kind of thing you want to read during this time of year" - The Courier

"An outright whodunit homage to the meticulous novels of detection of the likes of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, this is great fun, carefully-plotted and featuring a cast of characters alternating between suspects and victims, with just the right amount of twists and retrospective revelations. Mighty fun!" - Crime Time

"'Raman clearly loves golden age crime and has fun riffing on the tropes and, of course, this is a classic locked-room-mystery. A who-dunnit in the vein of Agatha Christie. But it is more than a simple homage, it has its own style. This is the first of an intriguing new series set to add a distinctly Indian character to a classic sub-genre... very entertaining'" - NB Magazine