Murder at Daisy Apartments by Shabnam Minwalla. Published in 2021 by Speaking Tiger Books LLP, 4381/4, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002. Pp: 257. Price: Rs 399.
One does not realize that buildings sealed on account of Covid would be an ideal location for a murder. It is this very situation that Shabnam Minwalla (pictured) exploits in her novel Murder at Daisy Apartments. It is a thrilling read because one is aware from the very beginning that the murderer most likely is an occupant from this confined environment.
Minwalla skillfully sets her novel in the early days of the pandemic when buildings were being sealed even if there was a single case and mass hysteria was rampant. The action takes place in two buildings — Lily and Daisy Apartments — which face each other in a compound separated by a narrow "patch of cement broad enough to allow a game of rubber ball cricket.”
There is great confusion and consternation on the 43rd day of the lockdown when Mr Sevnani, aged 78, inhabitant of Lily Apartments is taken to hospital. The residents are more concerned to determine if and when they last shared a lift with Sevnani rather than worry about his condition. When the results show he is Covid positive, the building has to be sealed and declared a containment zone. A day later, Raghunath, who has cleaned their buildings for 35 years, dies of Covid and, as a result, Daisy Apartments is sealed as well.
Though 65-year-old Baman Marker, chairman of the Lily-Daisy Cooperative Housing Society, living on the fifth floor of Daisy Apartments, has the appearance of a benign gentleman, his "pale and wily” eyes indicate his true colors. From the outset, Minwalla shows his dishonest and self-serving nature; under the pretext of building repairs, he has renovated the entrances and the passageways with granite slabs — at the cost of all the occupants — just in time for his elder daughter’s wedding. When installing closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the expense of the residents to safeguard the buildings, one camera is especially dedicated to watch over his BMW. His high-handed behavior is evident during the sealing of Lily Apartments. In addition to the stringent restrictions imposed by the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), Marker takes the law into his own hands and misuses his power to perversely inconvenience the members by issuing draconian orders to establish greater control over them: the gates will be locked at all times and only opened on instructions of the honorary chairman; elevators will be switched off to restrict movement; orders for basic essentials can only be placed through him. He even has a table installed in the compound with a register not only for outsiders but also for the occupants who, in addition, have to maintain temperature charts and send them to him once a week.
It is little wonder he is disliked by all the residents. He is totally devoid of sympathy and prevents Sheela Jagtiani who lives in Lily Apartments from even taking food or administering medicines to her ailing father who lives alone with domestic help in Daisy Apartments. Marker is an evil man who "finds out nasty little secrets about everyone, and uses them to manipulate people and get his own way.” Marker ensures that Ms Rashida, whose husband is unemployed on account of anxiety issues, cannot carry on her business of supplying food and spreads a rumor that one of her helpers has Covid; he blackmails Mr Carvalho who is accused of selling question papers and Mr Burman of financial misdeeds; not to mention the other residents who hate him because of his arrogance. What is this small packet that Marker is trying to trace and what are its contents that make him so persistent? When he is murdered as a result of poisoning by ethylene glycol — a colorless, odorless, sweetish chemical, the main ingredient in car coolant — Minwalla shows that all the occupants have a motive to do so.
The amateur detective is 14-year-old Nandini Venkat, who lives with her parents and Ved, her twin brother, in Lily Apartments. Her best friend, Shanaya, lives with her mother, a divorcee, in Daisy Apartments. Minwalla creates delightful characters, especially Nandini with the single-minded determination to solve the crime, her staunch affection for Shanaya, her passion for junk food and her pining for Carvalho junior, Daniel, who lives in the building opposite.
Minwalla plants a lot of red herrings and clues to heighten the suspense and keep the reader guessing as to who the murderer is. Nandini and Shanaya are watching a film, Mean Girls, in their respective homes when Nandini suddenly notices something strange. Who is the person she sees on the night of the crime climbing up from the second to the fifth floor in black trousers? What is the pink/red/orange bag in his/her hand? What are the white flapping garments she notices on the stairs? Does this have anything to do with the black trousers on Alimchandani’s balcony? Or the white raincoat hanging from a hook in the Carvalho apartment on the third floor? Why did Shanaya decide to change the film from Knives Out to Mean Girls, a film the girls had seen ad nauseam and even knew the dialogs by heart? Did the ethylene glycol come from Jeh and Neville Khambatta, the owners of several snazzy bikes?
The only weak part of the novel is the information about the inhabitants of the apartments which is listed out in a rather clumsy and pedestrian fashion. It would have been so much more interesting had Minwalla managed to weave the background of the characters into the fabric of the novel. However, this does not really interfere with the suspense of the tale which keeps the reader guessing till the very end. FIRDAUS GANDAVIA
Gandavia holds a doctorate in English literature and is a retired chartered accountant. He is a compulsive reader of fiction.