Book Review : The Murder At Lemon Tree Grove : Iqra Investigates

The Murder At Lemon Tree Grove by Andaleeb Wajid is a murder mystery thriller novel full of humor, turns, and twists making it difficult to identify the murderer till the end.

Book Blurb On Amazon

Everybody loves me, right?

Everybody except...

Okay, let me go back to the beginning. I'm living my dream life with Saad, away from the family, in a new neighborhood and everything is perfect. Except that my next-door neighbor, a crusty old lady, who yells at everyone and whom everyone on the street hates, seems to hate me?

My quirky charm doesn’t work on her and I'm quite peeved but there isn't much I can do. But the old lady turns up dead one morning. And what seems like a perfunctory natural death becomes murky when the truth emerges that she was murdered.

When her grieving and grown-up kids turn up in India for the funeral, I need to delve deeper and uncover the mystery behind her death. The only problem is that when Iqra Investigates, mayhem and chaos can't be far behind.

Review

It is a light read with a pinch of humor. In the beginning, I had my own thoughts reading this book due to the suspense created by one of the characters for the protagonist’s husband. I had my thoughts about the story in the beginning, like her husband would have an affair and she would be murdered.

But to my surprise, to whom I was expecting to die in the end rose as a superpower and show stealer. Though I felt she would be enacted as some victim. But, the author has another plan to take readers on a thrilling ride of suspense, turns, twists, and loads of laughter.

I enjoyed reading the book, and after a long time, I laughed aloud while reading the story. The plot in itself is well-written such that even if the readers try to guess they won’t be able to conclude what comes next. Though there were several characters and everyone was playing their parts. But the center of the attraction had a role everywhere. It is what kept me intrigued by the story. I could not resist finishing the second half of the book in one go due to the twists it was moving towards.

Though in the second half of the book, after a few chapters, it was monotonous, as if trying to delay the final part. It is where I thought if that was not there, the book was enough in itself.

The overall experience is favorable and appealing in-all. I picked up this book on the recommendation of one of my friends. The plot and character development were well set to let the readers drive to the story themselves as I felt I could still imagine how the house would look like and the lemon tree.

The best thing is the story ends pretty satisfactorily.

I highly recommend this book to someone looking for a murder mystery to drive their own guesses to find who did the murder in the lemon tree grove.

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