Murder in Moonlit Square

by Paul Waters

Genres: Mystery

390 pages, Hardcover

Published October 9, 2025

Reviews

[Sabu Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foreign authors often miss the finer nuances when setting stories in India; it can feel like they’re observing from a distance rather than truly inhabiting the world. This novel, however, is a refreshing exception. Enjoyable, even if it doesn’t quite qualify as a must-read.

[Bookworm86 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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Review for 'Murder In Moonlit Square' by Paul Waters

This may be the first book I have read by this incredible author but it most certainly will not be my last!! It is also the first book in Paul's 'A Haveli Hotel Mystery' series.

What an absolutely fantastic, intriguing and action packed page turner!! Clear your schedules and grab your copy now!!

Wow!!!! Just flipping wow!!!! What an absolutely brilliant page turner!!! Well done to Paul Waters on an incredible and addictive read! I have absolutely NO idea whatsoever how on Earth I have never actually got around to reading any of your books before now but I am very pleased that that silly mistake has now been rectified and I have discovered your incredible storytelling talent. Absolutely smashed it!!!!!!! This book is extremely well written with vivid descriptions creating the perfect atmosphere for the storyline. Paul transports the readers to the glamour and grime of Delhi where they will meet semi retired Irish nun Sister Agatha Murphy and hotelier Avtar Mehta. They meet when they are both having an "ad" (cigarette) break at the back of Avtar's hotel Delhi Haveli Hotel. When a customer has a bag stolen outside the hotel and a body is found in the hotel they join forces to try to keep the Delhi Haveli Hotel open and clear it's name. An absolutely brilliant, humorous and exotic cosy crime mystery ram packed with drama, friendship, action, mystery, humour, atmosphere, larger than life characters, twists and so much more! The book cover and synopsis works perfectly with the book plot and I am most definitely looking forward to reading more books by this fantastic author. WOW!!!! What can I say?!?! What you need to do now is stop wasting your time reading this, run, do not walk and grab your copy of this brilliant page turner now. You also need to clear your schedules as once you start this book you will not be able to put it down! This book is fantastically written with vivid descriptions setting the picture perfectly in the readers mind ensuring they feel the heat of Delhi on their skin, hear the hotel coming to life around them and seeing the drama come to life. I absolutely loved the unique storyline which had me hooked from the very first page to the last. I will not say anything about the storyline as the publisher has done a fantastic job of this in the synopsis and I do not want to run the risk of giving anything away but if you want to know more then grab your copy of this cosy mystery today and I can GUARANTEE you will not regret it!!! I absolutely love the fact that our main protagonists are a semi-retired nun and a hotelier. I have only read a handful of other books where the protagonist is a nun and it is always nice to discover different characters from different walks of life. Paul does and incredible job of weaving the multiple protagonist perspective's of both Agatha and Avtar together ensuring the readers see the lives of both a nun and a hotelier while ensuring there is no confusion. Paul's brilliantly evocative descriptions will have you feeling every emotion the characters are from surprise to fear, hope to shock!! It is one of the most unforgettable and unputdownable books I have ever read!! His brilliant storytelling and writing sucks the reader straight into the storyline with the characters and surroundings coming to life around them. It is one of those books that I just simply could not put down and I walked around everywhere with my book glued to my hands. Every chapter ended in a way that I had to know what was going to happen next and then it would move on to the next chapter and do the same so I blew through this in one sitting of just a few hours. I must admit that I did work out who the killer was but only just before they were revealed and it was not someone I was expecting prior to this. I loved both Agatha and Avtar who are both larger than life characters and I am looking forward to meeting them in the next book in this brilliant series! Reading this book really does make you feel that you are standing in Delhi with each of the characters and seeing it all come to life in front of your eyes. Each of the characters were perfectly written and each had their own unique and strong personalities with individual strengths, weaknesses, quirks, flaws and more. You need to clear your schedules because you will not be able to put this book down. AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ!! The characters were all very strong and realistic and Paul's writing ensured they jumped off the pages at me. They all have their own unique personalities and I enjoyed discovering their histories as the story unravelled. Pick up your copy of this book today and meet these fantastic characters yourself. I cannot wait to read more books by this incredible author!!

Congratulations Paul on an absolutely addictive, humorous and gripping cosy crime mystery!!! I am looking forward to reading more of your previous and future books.

Overall an absolutely unputdownable, humorous, intriguing and exotic MUST READ!!


#MurderInMoonlitSquare #AHaveliHotelMystery #PaulWaters #NoExitPress #RandomThingsTours #RandomTTours

@PaulWaters @NoExitPress @RandomThingsTours @RandomTTours


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[Lynsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Murder in Moonlit Square’ was a simply joyful read to start the new year with! This is the start of a new cosy crime series set in Old Delhi, and it instantly transported me back to those bustling lanes packed full of a smorgasbord of smells, noises, colours, and the random cows! This is the first book that I have read by this author, but I am already eager for the next instalment of this series.

I thoroughly recommend this book for so many reasons. It was packed full of rich, authentic details that you can only put on the page if you have actually experienced them yourself. The characters leapt off the page, fully formed from the get-go, and only became more nuanced and textured as the narrative progressed. The storyline is original - I wasn’t expecting a semi-retired Irish nun to be joining up with a hotelier to solve murders in the Indian capital. I fell head over heels for Sister Agatha - she is a nun with some punk in her, and it is a stunning combination. Avtar is her partner in crime, and he was a delight to spend time with. He actually reminds me of a hotelier from Old Delhi from when I was a child, and we did stay in a Haveli-style building. It made this such a nostalgic and comforting read for me!

Despite the author not being a native Indian, he managed to pick up on lots of history, issues, and problems which face modern India. The reverberations of partition are still felt today, and this was not shied away from in the narrative. The religious divides are touched upon, the issue of India’s young women and girls being objectified and harassed becoming normalised. But the magic was that the book was still joyful and full of humour and hope.

I could continue to wax lyrical about this book, but instead, I’m just going to urge you to read it!

Let me know if you pick this one up.

[Arati · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟s

[Joya · Rating 1 out of 5]

It takes hubris to write about a culture that is not your own. The book is riddled with crude generalizations about Indian culture. The writing also leaves much to be desired. Avoid this novel at all costs and pick up an Abir Mukherjee novel instead.