~ Cover Reveal ~
Murder in the Chowdhury Palace
by Sharmishtha Shenoy
About the Book:
What if someone you loved... was murdered? How far would you go to bring a killer to justice?
Orphaned in her childhood, Durga has always longed for wealth, security and, above all, a sense of belonging. She finds it all when she marries Debnarayan Chowdhury, heir to an immense, multi-crore estate. But the Chowdhury family has been under a curse that dates back to the British era. The first-born of each generation dies young, purportedly killed by the spirit of Kadambari, a young woman murdered by the notorious Shankar Dakat, the founder of the Chowdhury family and their Zamindari. When her father-in-law Birendranath dies unexpectedly, Durga and Debnarayan come down to the ancestral home in Kakdihi, a small village near Kolkata. The moment Durga enters her new palatial home, she crosses a threshold of terror. She loses her husband within a month of her marriage and finds herself a widow in a house full of strangers. Are Debnarayan’s and Birendranath’s deaths accidental? Everyone in her new family and the neighborhood appear to be friendly. Most of them have a motive to kill her. A well-meaning neighbor tells her, ‘Run from this place. You have no friends here.’ Is she, the current owner of the estate, now on the murderer’s radar?
Read an Excerpt from Murder in the Chowdhury Palace
We walked back to the main house and, crossing the hall, went to the east wing on the ground floor. This wing also consisted of a verandah with doors leading to various rooms on the left. All the rooms were closed except for one. We entered the room, and I became aware that there was something strange about it. There was an air of studied naturalness as if the occupant of the room had left just a moment before. A pair of bedroom slippers were placed near the bed, and a pitcher of water was kept on the side table along with a copper glass. On a small platform, a sitar, and harmonium and a tabla were arranged in a way that seemed to suggest they were still played regularly. It was quite a spooky room, or maybe it felt that way because it belonged to a man who had been dead for quite a long time and yet gave the sense that it was currently in use.
Debu pointed out to the sitar with pride and said, ‘This is a very expensive sitar, one of the Kanai Lal sitars which Pandit Ravi Shankar himself used to use. These sitars are very valuable and not available in the market nowadays.’
On one wall hung a painting of a young man. I immediately recognized it as that of Debendranath. He must have been blessed with the best genes in the family. Apart from his prowess at music, he was the most handsome of all the Chowdhury men that I had seen. He had wavy shoulder-length hair and an attractive nose. The mouth was curved into a smile. It was a beautiful face, and the picture was painted in such a way that the eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went. I stepped back, and eyes followed me, appearing sad at one moment and smiling the next.
‘So, you are looking at my Deben,’ a female voice spoke at an unnaturally high pitch that sent shivers down my spine.
Debu pointed out to the sitar with pride and said, ‘This is a very expensive sitar, one of the Kanai Lal sitars which Pandit Ravi Shankar himself used to use. These sitars are very valuable and not available in the market nowadays.’
On one wall hung a painting of a young man. I immediately recognized it as that of Debendranath. He must have been blessed with the best genes in the family. Apart from his prowess at music, he was the most handsome of all the Chowdhury men that I had seen. He had wavy shoulder-length hair and an attractive nose. The mouth was curved into a smile. It was a beautiful face, and the picture was painted in such a way that the eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went. I stepped back, and eyes followed me, appearing sad at one moment and smiling the next.
‘So, you are looking at my Deben,’ a female voice spoke at an unnaturally high pitch that sent shivers down my spine.
About Sharmishtha Shenoy:
Sharmishtha Shenoy is the author of the Vikram Rana Mystery series. The books under the series are “Vikram Rana Investigates,” “A Season for Dying,” “Behind the Scenes” and “Fatal Fallout”. She has also published a book of short stories, “Quirky Tales.”
Her short stories have been published in efiction magazine and Woman’s era. She loves writing murder mysteries, the kind of books that she likes to read. Her favorite authors are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. She also likes the work of Satyajit Ray – especially the Feluda Series.
Before starting to write, she had been an IT professional and had worked in TCS, Satyam, Infosys, and Microsoft.
She is a big foodie and enjoys Biriyani (both Hyderabadi and Awadhi versions) and rasgullas like most Bengalis. She is also a lusty singer of the bathroom singing variety.
Though she is happily married to Mr. Shenoy in real life, in her fantasy world she is wedded to her creation Vikram Rana. You can get to her blog by typing the word “Sharmishtha Rana” into Google. No, seriously, try it.
She was born in Calcutta. She is an M Tech from the University of Reading, Great Britain and had received a 100% British Government Scholarship to study there. She lives in Hyderabad.
Sharmishtha on the Web:
