Murder in Moonlit Square: AND THEN THERE WAS A NUN

A hotelier and a nun come together to solve a murder making for a very unlikely pair of crime fighters indeed. Sister Agatha Murphy, Irish and part of the convent of Amazing Grace bumps into Avtar Mehta as a stop thief episode explodes on Chandni Chowk in front of the Delhi Haveli Hotel, a heritage building belonging to Avtar Singh. Nun and hotelier are sneaking a cigarette break behind the hotel – well nuns may be entitled to one vice!

Into this camaraderie explodes a murder – a dead man found in a room that isn’t his own further complicated by a missing pilgrim from Pakistan. In a time when India and Pakistan have an edgy relationship, Avtar allows pilgrims to stay at his hotel which is as per business norms, giving the fact that the pilgrims have government permission to be in India. The murder and the disappearance of the pilgrim convince the police led by the snarky Inspector Patel that the pilgrim is a terrorist who has murdered the man in the bedroom, Manoj Prasad, thought there is little or no proof. He also accuses Avtar of harbouring terrorists which makes him and his staff accomplices to the crimes. Sister Agatha Murphy who happens to be on the spot is also tarnished by association. An acute retired schoolteacher and nun, she realises that Avtar needs help and the two bond together to find the pilgrim and prove that he is not the murderer.

Waters thinks of his murder mystery as an Indo-Irish collaboration which is why he brings two diverse characters together – though Sister Agatha’s name obviously has undercurrents of Agatha Christie.

We see her through Avtar’s eyes, a tall woman who moves like a grey swan, speaks with a foreign accent and can be remarkably active on occasion. Her habit and veil seem to enable her to blend in among the crowds of Delhi’s narrow gallis or at the crematorium at Nigambodh Ghat. She also devotes herself to spending time at a hospice with the old and infirm – though in the current context she has only one person who she watches over, an unconscious old man.

Hemmed in by the Delhi police, RAW and the vicious Inspector Patel, Sister Agatha finds herself trying to help Avtar whom she sees as a good man though very much at a loss when confronted with the prospect of losing his beloved hotel and endangering the future of his staff, especially the beautiful Arushi who handles guest management with quiet efficiency.

Lucidly written, Waters maintains a steady pace and his grasp of Indian politics, the chaos of Delhi streets and Bollywood numbers is impressive. He has the girls from the Sisters of Amazing Grace school vibing to London ko thamakada and even Bollywood dancing almost to victory in a hockey match against a more to robust girls’ team. However, on occasion his sleuths seem a little inept – Sister Agatha rushes into situations driven by her Christian conscience that she should avoid and Avtar cannot control his innocent impulses to spill the beans. Both he and Sister Agatha believe in doing good which is not the best way to deal with police corruption.

Occasionally Waters goes into unnecessary detail as for when he explains the problems facing couples in large joint families looking for privacy or the reasons behind the choosing of names for nuns – though one might say that this is done to make matters clearer for his non-Indian presumably Irish readers.

The violence is muted though present and things perk up at the end witj a cliff-hanger when the murderer is revealed.

Waters maintains a steady game of spy vs spy with two beautiful women in the hotel and no one is sure who is what - though the missing pilgrim is easy to locate for the reader with an eye to the plot. The writer throws in a glossary of words at the end that those unfamiliar with Delhi and India will probably leaf through gladly.

However, for a debut with a promise of a series to follow, Waters has his team and his villainous Inspector in place so one can look forward to more cat and mouse encounters with the cops with the Sub Inspector becoming more of an ally.