What does a chuckle at a crime scene do? An anecdote slipped into an interrogation being done for a murder (or two, or more)? It heightens the senses, I realized, after reading this book, and one looks for the clues with an even keener sensorial wand.
Because you see, a least expected thing in a whodunit story is the one that, usually, turns things around, or pirouettes enough for the picture to shed its haze and emerge clear. Like humor over a dead body. Like a missed call on a random evening. Like a toy bird on an ancient mantelpiece. Like a broken glass buried in a snowstorm. Like a delivery one day late. Like an extra pair of footprints. Like one unidentified entry on a ski-lodge’s guest book.
There. A Ski-Lodge in remote Australia. A family reunion of the notorious Cunninghams. Notorious family where each member has killed someone in past. Nine of them, camped for a weekend. And then, one murder drops. Then, another. And it is clear that ‘The Black Tongue’ is behind them. Because the murders have their signature – death by suffocation, caused by ash. And our narrator – Ernest Cunningham – is fidgeting on whether he should chase the identity of the murderer or persuade his family to leave immediately.
You know what he would have chosen. How else would this book have been written?
Well, Stevenson was clear – he told me at the beginning there shall be murders in this book. He got me hooked. And then, wove an engaging narrative, replete with the tested props – ensemble cast, surprise appearances, flashback stories, internal animosity, unexpected disappearances, striking happenstances and a self-effacing, (un)reliable narrator.
The reveal towards the end took me by genuine surprise. I felt a little stupid (I am trying to salvage pride here) that I wasn’t canny enough. But well, let us all admit this – the best kind of murder mysteries are those where we are taken by surprise in the end, right? Right?
I am taking a collective yes. I mean, after spending a weekend with Stevenson’s characters, you can’t blame me for gaining an extra range of sensors to pick sentiments which are not apparent. See? I caught you.
SEEMITA DAS 