What happens when one of your all time favorite Author not only writes a murder mystery but also compiles some of his favorite Writer's stories in one concise book - what you get out of this kind of a situation is basically a sleepless Saturday night. It so happened last Saturday that we had an impromptu slumber party at my nephew's place who is not much of a reader anyways (how some people spoil my name I tell you) even when I have given him a few easy to read books and all. Since the night out wasn't planned I was neither carrying any book nor my laptop so was totally clueless as how to spend the night once the party got over. Surprisingly he had this gem of a small book lying on his center table which he picked up few months back as he had heard of the legendary name from me only (guess to impress me maybe). I gladly picked up the book and gorged on it and was done next morning by breakfast before moving back to our place. Imagine a book having not only a terrific story from Ruskin Bond but also from the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Allan Edgar Poe, Wilkie Collins etc . I must confess that at least two of the stories were so mind-blowing that I had to go back a few pages to catch up again to come to a conclusion as how that happened. I tell you these guys are not at all easy on their readers.
I don't want to give away anything as you have to read this book and the amazing stories but I must say that the title story was my favorite. If you look at the beautiful cover, and read it, it is sure to put a smile on my face as how two brothers dependent on their widowed aunt for their day to day affairs. How she sits on the their uncles money and they get the meager cut till she survives. The amicable planning of a perfect murder, jealousy between the brothers and the final outcome was totally mind-blowing. The way story goes forward stretches to an unbelievable extent and the final blow which I can guarantee that none will be able to predict. And then there is Ruskin Bond's own superb story which he gives out so easily even with no murder involved it brought my heart to my mouth by the audacity of the murderer and the victim and again (can't control myself) the ending. And how can I not love a story told by Mr. Watson of his much loved friend Mr. Holmes who is always at-least ten steps ahead of a criminal he is going after. I must sadly confess that I have hardly read anything by Allan Edgar Poe and Wilkie Collins in a long long time and this book helped me correct that mistake to an extent.
I so much wished that this had a Christie story too that would have made this a super perfect book. Have you read a book with collection of murder mysteries? or which one is your favorite Murder mystery? And if you haven't read this collection, you must not miss it at any cost.
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