Black Water Lilies: A Review

The entire country is under lockdown.  Our offices are working on skeletal strength.  Even though I am attending the office everyday I do not have adequate work.  What better way to spend time than catch up on reading! Thankfully I have a stack of books that I am yet to read.  One of them was 'Black Water Lilies', by Michael Bussi.  I am reading the translation of the original French work, a murder mystery. 

Set in Giverny, a small village and home to the celebrated painter Claude Monet, the book generously uses its backdrop - both the village  its famous resident and art - as ingredients of the novel.  It tells the story that purportedly happens over 13 days, which begins with a murder, and ends with another.  The central character of the book is an old woman who every so often comes and narrates parts of the story, and how she is able to see everything in the village - because she lives in the high tower, and how she knows all the answers, and yet we have to wait with patience to get to them.  

It begins with the murder of Morval, a local ophthalmologist and art collector.  And, it appears that there are several who have a motive to kill him.  His wife.  The husband of a woman he was besotted with.  Other random liaisons he has had over time.  Other art collectors.  The murder is investigated by a team of police, headed by Laurent, a man of passion and intuition. His deputy however is all about attention to detail, gathering of evidence, and sticking to the right investigation processes.  Who gets to solve the murder?

The book is about Fanette, a prodigious 11-year old artistic talent, who wants to escape from the suffocating small village into the wide world.  It is also about Stephanie, a seductive school teacher, who wants to escape a loveless marriage.  And, yet again, about the old woman who flits in and out of the book regularly, telling us acerbic tidbits about the local people. 

 When you pick up a murder mystery what ingredients do you look for? A good plot, quirky characters, a gripping suspense that stays alive till the last page, and unexpected twists would top the list.  And, Black Water Lilies delivers on all these and more.  The narration for most part of the book is deliriously delicious.  Even as I wanted to race to the climax, I yet didn't want the book to end, and I hung on to every word and sentence.  The writing style is so lucid that the art of Monet and the village of Giverny and its people come alive. 

This is certainly a book that I would recommend.  Even without the plot twists and deceptive narrative tricks, the book would be immensely readable.  And, what stays more than the suspense and the lyrical beauty is the emotional sucker punch the book delivers in the end.  It did stay for days with me.  If you love reading, go grab it.  I know, you can't rush to a bookstore.  But, then ebook is very much in your reach.