Samsara is  a world-class spa nestled in the Indian Himalayas where all your wishes were only a gilded notecard away. Ro Krishna has just checked in.  With his rakish charm, Oxford education, and perfect hair, he had it all, until he left his job under mysterious circumstances, It was super hectic, and Ro decides it’s time for some much-needed R&R. At Samsara he is free to explore the innumerable yoga classes to rebalance their privileged existence, wellness treatments and guided-meditation session on offer alongside the rest of the exclusive hotel’s guests.

Until one of the guests -gorgeous, charismatic, well-connected, like most of them- is found dead. As everyone scrambles to figure out what happened, Ro is pulled into an investigation that endangers  them all and threatens to spiral beyond the hotel walls. Because it turns out it’s not just heiresses and Bollywood stars-to-be that have checked in: cocktail hour is over, and death is on the prowl.

Magic Alhambras made of Pave diamonds and turquoise provide valuable clues in this clever high-altitude murder mystery.

Ro Krishna, a lawyer protagonist, so valued a customer of Air France that the pilots leave the cockpit to greet him personally, has work-related wounds of his own to lick as he checks in. When a wealthy guest meets a violent death, the elegant proprietress enlists his help to find the perpetrator before everyone else gets spooked. Ro takes a calm, not to say karmic, approach to crime solving, given that he believes nothing happens without God’s say so- even murder. He also consults a spirit guide via a pendulum. This is not so much a whodunnit as a whodunnit. It is hard to pick out suspects when guests and staff at Samsara wear virtually identical Kurt pyjamas, but Ro has unusual methods when it comes to digging up the truth, and a willingness on occasion to give karma a helping hand.

Samsara’s heady blend of decadence and spirituality is deliciously evoked, making the lapses in ton – even a two pages of jokes about the Challenger disaster, and final revelations about Rio himself turn him from dashing sleuth into something much darker and sinister. Why his own karma remains unaffected is the biggest mystery of all.

Death In The Air by Ram Murali, Atlantic £16.99