Chetan Bhagat’s second mystery / detective fiction, One Arranged Murder is another of those fast-moving, simple-worded Bollywood-esque dramas one would expect from him. The wish of Keshav and Saurabh—amateur detectives from Bhagat’s previous book, [b:The Girl in Room 105|41639186|The Girl in Room 105|Chetan Bhagat|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1535967599l/41639186._SY75_.jpg|64978767]—for a real juicy murder case is granted when Prerna, Saurabh's fiancee, falls to her death from the top of her home. Immediately, almost everyone from the big, Punjabi joint-family of Prerna’s—along with a few outside of it—becomes a suspect, each with their own motive and opportunity to kill her. Indulged by the police inspector from their previous case, who has now become the Assistant Commissioner thanks to their success in that case, Keshav and Saurabh blunder through the investigation and solve it, finally. At the core, it is a good enough mystery, with a murder and many suspects, each of whom with something to hide. But Bhagat smothers it beneath a silly fight between the detective friends that runs through the entire length of the story, and several scenes where the already overweight characters gobble up even more calories. The resolution to the mystery is well done, though I had a hazy guess well before the end. That, and Bhagat’s realistic descriptions of places in and around Delhi, and the easy language that does not tax the brain much made One Arranged Murder a passable read for me. I would rate it 2.5 Stars out of 5. ( )

A Decent Thriller Interlaced With Humour !!

Chetan Bhagat needs no introduction in Indian literary world. Its not an exaggeration to say that many young Indians got their reading habit through Chetan’s books. Be it romance, political issues or thrillers, he has his own way of story telling with a humorous touch throughout. One arranged murder is his 10th book and the lead characters are continued from his previous book “The Girl in Room 105”

Keshav and Saurabh are best friends and flat mates. They work in a cyber security software company and own a detective agency as well. Saurabh gets engaged to Prerna, who owns a food delivery app company and hails from a super rich, big Punjabi family. Prerna gets murdered suddenly and there are suspects from her family, business and ex-boyfriend. While police struggles on the case, Keshav and Saurabh take up the investigation to reveal the murderer.

What I liked

- Gets into the story right from the page 1. Nowhere, the story deviates from the core plot.

- There is never a boring moment in the book. Keeps us hooked throughout.

- Very easy to read – The writing is kept simple and fast paced.

- A good thriller that is fun to read as well – with humorous dialogues throughout.

What could have been better

- The murderer can be predicted with around 60 pages to spare, whereas the actual reveal happens only towards the very end of the book. May be its kept intentional by author

- There aren’t much twists that are expected in an investigative thriller

- Many logical loopholes throughout – but it never hinders the pace or creates disturbance in story flow ( )