SS- Sepulchre by the sea - Chapter 4, Pg 5, 20 Oct - Page 4

Another stalker? I don't think I could ever use the word stalker in a pop cultural sense, after reading your story. Amazing update, S. Can't wait to read more!

Now I am incredibly late with my response and I apologize for that.

Originally posted by: sashashyam

My dear Sookie,

First of all, my apologies for being so late with my comments. It was not because I was lazy; I wanted to read the 4^th part (Chapter 3) before writing this, and somehow I could not locate it in the forum, on the 20^th and then I got sidetracked with the Navaratri festivities. I have found it just now, 3 days late, using the link I had for the thread. The first few pages in the forum fill up so fast, it is tough to dig anything specific out of the plethora of threads!

First and most important, a BIG thank you for the rare treat of reading a genuine, true blue, unalloyed crime story. Your FF is so focussed and single minded in tracing this main track that it is a delight to read.

No, I did not think it was too gory; the violence is obviously as much a part of the motive and the compulsions driving the killer as in, say, Peter O'Toole's Night of the Generals. And then, I and your other readers are in the happy position of not having to view the body, and so we can safely read the story even after a full meal!

This said, the asides between Shree and Riya about not having anything to throw up rang true. Also, the phlegmatic detachment with which Riya inspects the corpse up close, and even counts the stab wounds, is not just proof of her courage in dealing with the realities of a nasty murder, but also perhaps hints at her determination to prove to Arjun what she asserts to the psychiatrist, that she is NOT a coward.

The names of the scents mentioned clearly hint at a man, which is in any case more likely. One can, at a pinch, have a woman wielding that cricket bat, but it is tough to imagine a woman inflicting 36 stab wounds on the body ( I do not say 'corpse', as it is not yet clear whether the stab wounds were post or ante-mortem). It is curious that Arjun uses the word 'perfume' . which is usually used for feminine scents.

I was also pleased with the clues scattered about the premises and the narrative : the absence of any bloodied clothes, the fact that the killer had not brought any weapons with him/her (I will keep both windows open for now) but seemed to know that they would be available on the spot, the overdose of a masculine scent. It made me feel comfortably at home, as if I was at the beginning of a rather uncharacteristically violent Christie, or perhaps a PD James thriller. The 'blunt force trauma' sounds so professional!

You also have a pronounced flair for the gently comic: the scene between Riya and the shopkeeper, with an exasperated Arjun listening in (and, I am sure, hoping that she would fall flat on her face) is absolutely sure-footed and just right. It reminded me of the time in Case No.3, when she winkles the list of Dr. Jatin's patients out of the reception clerk, who had earlier roundly snubbed Arjun, put off by his peremptory demands.

The rest of that scene is very natural and believable. It must have been such a relief, and a catharsis, for the poor boy to talk about the man he had looked up to so much and whose death must have been a very great shock for him, and a source of genuine grief. The extent, and vital importance, of what Riya is able to extract from him, purely thru the empathy and the reassuring attitude she displays, only goes to show that a essential talent for a good detective is the ability to put the most unlikely interlocutors at ease and get them to unburden themselves to him/her. I felt like cheering her with an Atta girl, Riya!, and I was pleased that even Arjun was fair enough to applaud her for it. Perhaps this is the dawn of a relationship of respect and mutual understanding between them ' from his side, for all this already exists on hers.

The latest chapter shows how the art of detection relies almost equally on the painstaking gathering of proven facts, and then on the ability to interpret them properly, without trying to fit them into a pre-conceived theory.

I loved the little aside by Shree about meticulous records making his life easier; it reminded me of his complaining bitterly about the absence of CCTV cameras in the boarding school episode, where they were investigating the disappearance of a student. I am strongly tempted to plonk him down with Sherlock Holmes in late 19^th century London, and see how he would cope! Come to think of it, I think he would cope quite well in term of the physical clues; it is in their interpretation that he slips up from time to time, as in the case of the window being broken (from inside), in the exchange murders case (a take off on Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train) to simulate an entry by a thief. This time, however, he is spot on in deducing from the gift delivery details that the sender is someone in a position to know when Piyush is absent from the office for the day.

While on this point, I have a question for you. When Chotu asks whether there is any way of knowing what these gifts are and whom they are from, Shree answers that there is, but it will need a warrant. How can a warrant, presumably for searching Piyush's mail (for they already have the run of his apartment) assuredly reveal what the gifts were? Or who sent them, for that matter? They might do so, if Piyush had been on e-mail with the sender (even if the messages had been erased, Shree would be able to retrieve them), but that is hardly a given. How then is Shree so categoric about this?

Shree needs a warrant not for Piyush's materials to be searched for but with the vendors who delivered the gifts. I don't think any one would hand out information to police just cause they asked for it prejudicing their client's privacy privileges.

Lastly, while I agree with your comments about stalkers, and I found Riya's little dissertation on the common traits of stalkers interesting and impressive, I am not sure the sender of these flowers and gifts need necessarily be labelled as a stalker. It might very well be someone from Piyush's past who is not willing to be consigned to that past, but wants to make sure he/she is not forgotten. Moreover, there is no evidence as of now, going by what Sunil tells Riya, that receiving these gifts/flowers upset Piyush in any way, or alarmed him. His change of mood is linked to the visit by his ex-wife Roopa, not to the gifts. If the sender had been a standard issue stalker, surely Piyush would have displayed some reaction of worry or alarm that would have been evident to those in his office, especially to Sunil, who is obviously cared a lot for him. We will have to wait for the result of the enquiries about whether Piyush field any police complaints about the mysterious sender, but a priori, it does not seem that he was worried about them.

The derivative is arrived from Shree's explanation. Sending gifts on specific days only which sometimes have significance and some don't. And the ones that don't are understood by either both Piyush and the sender or the sender alone. After Sunil's mention about Piyush being disturbed after receiving, that's the conclusion Riya and the other arrive at. Is it correct - we don't know yet.

Good Lord, my comments are as long as one of your chapters: I only hope I have not bored you to death.! Congratulations on your tantalizingly named story, which I like a lot. It has had a very good beginning, and I am sure it will only get better as you move ahead with your narrative.

Finally, I would like to wish you, and the rest of your family, a wonderful Vijayadashami today. May the year be good for all of you in every way.

Shyamala B.Cowsik

Originally posted by: hegdemedha

Ah, so here's another of this genre from Sookie,
Now, are we to start looking for Annabel Lee?

PS: I am still mired in the quicksand that is work. But, I fortunately managed to catch the start. It promises a good story. I hope to catch up with you by the time you have penned down a few more chapters:-)

Lets see if you can already see the bread crumbs 😆

Are you planning to update this, S?

Originally posted by: Krishnaluv94

Are you planning to update this, S?

I definitely will Krishna. Just crapload of work and zero time for anything else :(

Originally posted by: -Sookie-

I definitely will Krishna. Just crapload of work and zero time for anything else :(

I understand. :)

Originally posted by: -Sookie-

Haven't been here for such a long time.

Catching up with Arjun episodes - haven't seen it since mid November!! Once caught up, will get back to writing this.

S

This makes me happy. :)

BM ( I seem to be doing this to a lot of your work, what can I say, you're amazing!)