Book Review: In a Crystal Ball: A Mussoorie Mystery by Ruskin Bond

In a Crystal Ball: A Mussoorie Mystery by Ruskin Bond is a short story about a murder in which the investigation of the case couldn’t be completed because of lack of details or it was done with such precision and care that the murderer got away without any air of doubt. Well, this story has been tweaked by adding the names of Rudyard Kipling and Conan Doyle.

In September of 1912, an English lady named Miss Garnette-Orme, with good amount of fortune, was found dead in her room in Mussoorie. The room was locked from inside. Autopsy revealed that she died of prussic acid. Well, the question was how? She was interested in spiritualism and séance. There was one more lady by the name of Miss Mountstephen who too was interested in the same and they often took relish in speaking to dead ones. Miss Garnette-Orme was a chirpy lady but following the death of her father and fiancé, she turned to occult and witching.

In Mussoorie they lived together in a hotel called Savoy. People suspected they were lesbians. Well, they could be. On September 12, Miss Mountstephen left for Jhansi – they were planning to spend their wintertime there - as Mussoorie could be very cold and harsh during winter. After she was gone, on September 19 Miss Garnette-Orme was found dead in her room. Police and doctors came but to no avail. Though Miss Mountstephen was the prime suspect, well she was away from the murder venue. She was arrested but later on released as there was no proof against her. After some time, she appealed to have the property of Miss Garnette-Orme as a legal claimant, but she was refused by the court.

So, from the story it looks like as Miss Mountstephen was behind the murder but how she did that. This question is unsolved. Rudyard Kipling writes a letter to Conan Doyle to solve this mystery but the story sees no involvement from him. It could have been a different story if Conan Doyle had investigated it. Well, unlike other Ruskin Bond books or stories about murder mystery, this one is little diverted off the track and sounds a bit insipid. Fans may feel little disappointed. No qualms for writing and other aspects.

Enjoyed reading this story! Here is your chance to read 30 best stories by Ruskin Bond - https://goo.gl/uBeMY6

Comments

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike. This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversation fo

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r

Kevein Books and Reviews

Search This Blog