Sri Lankan English teacher Kiyama Fernando catches her husband of ten years cheating and goes to visit her friend Vinodhini (“Vino”) Dias in the small town of Parkaduwa to try to wrap her head around what happened and figure out her next move. Vino and Kiyama were school friends in Colombo, where Kiyama and her husband still live; Vino inherited a rubber plantation from uncle in Parkaduwa. Shortly after Kiyama arrives, the body of the local English teacher is found in a paddy field, and Vino becomes the prime suspect. To clear Vino’s name, the two women decide to solve the murder mystery themselves and become amateur sleuths, eventually putting their own lives in danger. I enjoyed the cast of quirky characters from the two friends to a sinister loan shark, a handsome hotel owner, a bank manager, and a gossipy cook. Quick, fun read. ( )

Kiyama stays with Vinodhini to lie low, but now she needs to prove Vino's innocence when Priyanka's body is found. But as Kiy investigates Priyanka's death, secrets are revealed that Vino failed to mention. The story is structured so readers can follow the investigation and try to solve the case themselves. This is a quick murder mystery.


I received a free copy and am leaving a review voluntarily.
Thank you to StoryOrigin and author. ( )

I really enjoyed this quick read. A murder mystery with amateur female sleuths set in Sri Lanka, it is fun and kept me guessing. It reminded me of Alexander McCall Smith's series No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency set in Botswana and Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri series set in India - some light intrigue coupled with a what felt to me like a bit of a travelogue. The book comes from the perspective of the big city sleuth out of her element in the country, and this made for an interesting peek into the differences between urban and rural life in Sri Lanka. ( )

friendship, small-town, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, Sri Lanka, cozy-mystery, rural, teacher, rubber-plantation, cultural-exploration*****

Kiyama is flummoxed on finding that her husband is being unfaithful and calls her old school chum, Vino, to ask if she could escape to her new home for a bit. Vino has inherited a rubber plantation and is still learning her way, but she welcomes Kiy and a renewal of their friendship. Then comes the body of a local teacher (and scum) in a nearby paddy field, the local law, clouds of suspicion over Vino, lots of twists, and some laughs, too. I am more familiar with tiny towns with snow and evergreens than tropical island countries in the Pacific, but rest assured, small towns are all too alike anywhere. I also got to learn about wearing the saree (both women hate wearing them) and things about rubber harvesting as well as the educational system (similar to the British). Good story, fine (if dangerous) sleuthing, great characters. Loved it!
I won the ebook in a LibraryThing Giveaway! ( )

I received a free copy of this book via LibraryThing from the author.

I really enjoyed this murder mystery set in the countryside of Sri Lanka and whilst it gives a flavour of the country it isn't too specific to exclude a clueless westerner from enjoying the story.

Definitely I'd put this in the 'Cozy Mystery' genre and it moves along at a good pace with interesting lead characters whilst providing enough background hooks to local people to set up another book in the series.

All in all a decent read ( )