Murder on the Menu:: The Sensational Story of the Tycoon Who Founded Saravana Bhavan

“Murder on the Menu” by Nirupama Subramanian is such an engrossing read.The downfall of the dosa king narrated with a fair measure of socio-political-cultural commentary on Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai, is definitely more than a crime thriller.Sometimes, non-fiction is stranger than fiction and there were several moments when this page turner sent shivers down my spine as it tracked the rise and fall of Rajagopal, the founder of High class vegetarian hotel, Saravana Bhavan.Jeevajothi emerges as a phenomenal woman. When she realised that her husband, Prince, was finished off by her father's boss, she fought for 18 years to get justice. She refused to be subdued by Rajagopal's money or muscle power.It is one of those books that I finished reading in a day. The book left me in absolute awe of Jeevajothi’s courage to take on the powerful. And her persistence in the pursuit of truth and justice against all odds.

As a food lover and crime stories fan, the choice of my first read for 2022 was a natural choice .Men with money lusting after a woman and going to any lengths is not new but becomes intriguing when the man in question is founder of Sarvana Bhavan, a successful chain of restaurants worldwide.Rajagopalan who rose from poverty and created a huge imprint on chennai food scene was god fearing man , astute businessman and a generous employer. His only failing was falling for fairer sex and he leaves no stone unturned to get them . The book describes how he falls for Jeevajyothi, wife of his employee and how he tries to win over which led him to kill her husband Prince. Jeevajyothi fought for 18 years to get justice for the torture she went through at hands of Rajagopal. Rajagopal did get a life sentence but tragically for Jeevajyothi, doesn’t spend even six months in jail . This is a story has everything they will make a great Bollywood movie with guest appearance of Jayalalitha .Murder on the menu is good story but suffers from shoddy writing . Nirupama Subramanian doesn’t do justice to the story and especially to Jeevajyothi’ struggles.

A page turner all the way. The report of the gory deed is nicely sprinkled with geographical and sociological data about the state and the community.--Rekha Suresh Kumar

Short but difficult to follow narrative, excessive back and forth, lot of details could have been avoided to keep story sharp.Everything narrated already in social media

No new information or perspectives looks more like a news paper report and collection of news reports