Description

‘Glamorous, gripping, absolutely heaps of fun. I loved this.’
Lucy Foley

‘Crisp as a gin and tonic and delightfully wicked’
Kevin Kwan

Welcome to Samsara, a world-class spa nestled in the Indian Himalayas where all your wishes are only a gilded notecard away. Ro Krishna has just checked in. With his rakish charm, Oxford education, and perfect hair, he had it all – well, until he left his job under mysterious circumstances. It was super hectic, and Ro decides it’s time for some much-needed R&R. At Samsara, he’s free to explore the innumerable yoga classes, wellness treatments and guided-meditation sessions on offer alongside the rest of the exclusive hotel’s guests.

Until one of the guests – gorgeous, charismatic, well-connected, like most of them – is found dead. As everyone scrambles to figure out what happened, Ro is pulled into an investigation that endangers them all and threatens to spiral beyond the hotel walls. Because it turns out it’s not just heiresses and Bollywood stars-to-be that have checked in: cocktail hour is over, and death is on the prowl…

Publisher Review

An old-fashioned mystery in the model of Agatha Christie… A frothy, fun, truly escapist read – offering perspective on a certain echelon that feels both hyperbolic and cuttingly real at the same time * Vogue, Best Books of 2024 * Unexpected delights await on every page of Ram Murali’s impressive and captivating debut. Crisp as a gin and tonic and delightfully wicked, this smart, smart novel delivers a sophisticated, subversive murder mystery set in the highest stratosphere of the international idle rich. I had to force myself not to binge it in one night so I could savor it like the rare and exquisite meal that it is. * Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of CRAZY RICH ASIANS * Glamorous, gripping, absolutely heaps of fun. I loved this. * Lucy Foley, bestselling author of THE PARIS APARTMENT and THE GUEST LIST * A romp of a whodunit, poking fun at the uber wealthy whilst calmly meditating on both the horror of Partition and identity in a globalized world. I rattled through it. Ro is a very charming lead character indeed! * Charlotte Vassell, author of THE OTHER HALF * A stunning, sophisticated, scalpel-sharp murder mystery. Powerful, fun and hugely rewarding. Immensely impressive. * Chris Whitaker, author of WE BEGIN AT THE END * Twisty and absorbing, Death in the Air is a knockout mystery with a dry, dark humour all its own. It has endless glamour in the old sense of the word: as a sinister enchantment, casting a spell. * Flynn Berry, author of NORTHERN SPY * Convincingly captures the milieu of the uber rich, a world in which consequences only exist on a sliding scale, depending on who you know and how much you can pay… Fizzes with ambition, managing to be both showy and subversive… a fun, thought-provoking book – a commentary on greed, cultural appropriation and the peculiar malaise of the wealthy – a daring debut. * Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author of AZUCAR and TAIL OF THE BLUE BIRD * A warm broth of Golden Age mystery (both Agatha Christie and Richard Osman would be proud)… Evocative, provocative, and very, very fun * AJ Finn, author of END OF STORY *