The Tree Bears
Witness by Sharath Komarraju is a mystery novel and the hero is none other than Birbal: a household name in India. The Tree Bears Witness is a sequel to ‘A
Birbal Mystery’. After getting a place in the royal court and becoming a
confidant of the Emperor, Birbal gets a chance to use his wits to solve another
mystery again.
A few days
passed since the marriage of Akbar with the Rajput princess Jodha and tragedy
strikes in the form of the death of prince Sujjamal in the palace gardens. It
is openly known that where Jodha loves her brother deeply, Akbar finds Sujjamal
to be a traitor. When the death of Sujjamal indirectly points to him, Akbar
gets worried about his growing distance with Jodha and the unrest within the
Rajput community. He summons Birbal and asks him to solve the mystery within
two days.
According to
the two guards who were patrolling the garden; during the late night, the young
prince walked into the garden and roamed around the fountain which was located
between two mango trees as though he was waiting for someone. After a couple of
minutes the guards hear a yell and by the time they could reach the prince he
was dead with a knife plunged into his heart behind one of the mango trees.
Both the guards have two different opinions of what might have happened but it
was clear that there was no murderer lurking around.
Birbal
sharpens his wits and vows to find out the truth when one of the two guards;
the old and loyal Azgher was arrested for the death of the prince to subdued
the uproar. As the investigation progresses he finds confusing clues and many
suspects with motives. His trust becomes shaken when he discovers the innocent
guard turns out to be the one who tampered evidence. With the time running and
motives multiplying Birbal realizes the only witness to the murder is the tree.
This mystery
is too based on the lines of Bernard Cornwell’s favourite hero: Sharp. The plot
is so tightly packed and moving that readers will not feel the lightness of the
language used by the writer.
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