02 November, 2013

#BookSpotlight & #Giveaway :: A Degree in Death by Ruby Gupta

The midnight murder of a student in the sleepy town of Dehradun rouses everyone with suspicion and alarm. Violence is incomprehensible in this institute located at the foothills of the Himalayas. With no clues or suspects, the police are unable to catch the killer. 
Professor Shantanu Bose, an eminent nano-expert and Dean of Research and Development is deeply troubled at this havoc caused to his institute. Determined to bring back the peaceful academic environment of the campus, he begins his own investigation. 
Fear increases as another dead body turns up. Soon the professor finds himself in grave danger. Yet, he persists with his inquiry; and discovers that the truth is more startling than what anyone could have imagined…



Excerpt

The boy had been a third year student, and almost all the third year students were housed on the third floor. Without a word, everyone went up the winding staircase. “Here we are,” Mayank said as they reached a room in the middle of the long corridor on the third floor.

Everybody trooped inside the room.

Professor Shantanu hesitated to enter. He saw a student peeping from the adjoining apartment. Steeling himself, he walked in. Even though expecting the horror of the scene that would confront him, he was unprepared for the ghastliness of the entire spectacle. He had seen such things in the movies and on television; but seeing it before him was horrendous. Involuntarily, bile rose in his throat. He retched and swallowed. This was too much. He turned away.

“I hope no one has touched the body?” Inspector Bisht asked.

“No. The boy who found it ran out immediately and informed the other boys who, in turn, informed me,” Mayank said.

The body was suspended from the fan only a few inches above the bed by a bedsheet. The head was tilted to one side. The face was engorged and purplish-red in colour. The eyes were open, staring and somewhat bulging; the mouth too was open in an ugly manner. He had been a handsome boy but death had turned him into a grotesque shadow of his original self. He was dressed in a pair of low-waist jeans, which were so loose at the waist that they barely clung to his hipbone. His Adidas t-shirt looked crumpled as though he had slept in it. A wooden stool lay fallen upside-down, a little way from the bed. The bed had been pulled sideways to the centre of the room so that it was beneath the fan. Apparently, the boy had pulled the bed underneath the fan and then kept the stool atop it, in order to reach up to the fan. After tying himself, he must have kicked the stool, Professor Shantanu conjectured. The original position of the bed was adjacent to the wall, a little way from the centre. The other bed in the room was in its original position adjacent to the opposite wall.

“Take photographs,” Inspector Bisht instructed.

The photographer clicked several snaps from all angles.

Mr. Bisht noted down all the details he could observe. “Bring him down,” he directed.

Immediately two constables climbed on the bed and lifted the body while the third untied the bedsheet. The boy was laid on the bed. The photographer clicked more pictures of the body. For good measure, he took several photographs of the room as well.

It was all too much for Professor Shantanu. He walked out into the balcony adjoining the room. Quickly he gulped in large quantities of fresh air and held on to the railing. He was more shaken than he cared to admit. He looked up at the stars. The stars were still shining; the full-moon was spreading its silvery light in benign blessings; and all seemed well with the world.

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Giveaway
Two Paperback copies of A Degree in Death by Ruby Gupta is up for grabs for Indian Residents! Enter the Rafflecopter Now!
Giveaway open till 16th November.

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8 comments:

  1. Great Effort !!! Best wishes for your success :)

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  2. I like mysteries because, well, they're mysteries. It's so great to read a book where you have no clue what's going to happen next- I love it when a book unexpectedly surprises me and proves me wrong. That's it about mysteries! Thanks for the giveaway, DDS!

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  3. I like mysteries because the build up of anticipation towards the end is very exciting. The rush it gives is what I love!

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  4. I like mysteries as they tend to keep me hooked. Thanks for the giveaway DDS! Hope to win :)

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  5. It makes you think about what happens next? Makes you turn the pages...

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  6. It makes me think speculate and they are a source of unexpected surprises :)

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  7. I like mysteries because they keep my mind active and alert and I get to play my own who-dunnit while reading :)

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  8. I like mysteries because they keep my mind active and alert and I get to play my own who-dunnit while reading :)

    ReplyDelete