Ramble House, in a fit of perverse nostalgia, decided to bring back three action-packed novels by James Corbett all at once, and MURDER BEGETS MURDER is the mystery of the group. The other two are aeroplane thrillers. Corbett has a dodgy reputation among the old writers and with that in mind, Bay Area curmudgeon and historian Howard Pearlstein introduces the book with a plea for understanding. But read for yourself. This was the author's 43rd (and last book), published in 1951.

Its the wild wild east. James Corbett traveled widely across India in search of stories. He realized rural India was still feudal where landlords still kept elephants as a symbol of their strength and power. "Killer Elephant" is such a story. Paddum Prasad is a bull elephant which the landlord uses to kill humans and create an atmosphere of fear in the surrounding villages. He does this to usurp peoples lands. The villagers fight back and kill the elephant. Unperturbed, the landlord buys a new one. He swears by the size and temperament of the animal. "This one is a brute," he says, "not a fly...

"A Temple To Jesus Christ: The Vultures Nest," is a modern day Christian persecution story in Hindu majority India. Father Burns is a Catholic priest from America whose life is dedicated to converting non believers into the Christian fold. He operates like a company C.E.O and believes in taking Christ right into Hindu homes. He is helped by an Anglo Indian lady named Norine Dunne who shares his enthusiasm in spreading the word of god. Shanti is a beggar woman of a different kind. She is a fraud who buys unburnt dead bodies from the crematorium, brings them to the railway station, and begs...

"The Snake God" is a humorous Christian conversion story set in the fag end of British Indian rule. James Powell is an officer in his Majesties Government of India, a die hard imperialist whose stiff upper lip takes a beating every time he sees the Hindu landlord praying to a snake. He fails to understand why would anyone pray to a snake. He introduces the landlord to Christianity. Bill Moore is the pastor in the local church who patiently tells the story of Christ to the Hindu landlord knowing full well that the latter was pretending to be interested in Christ. He is okay with that. At least...

"Middle Class Incest," is a modern day Christian persecution story in Hindu majority India by no one else other than the wife. Jwala Singh is a liberal minded Christian convert who leads a happy go lucky life. Shikha is his wife. She is a die hard Hindu hailing from a die hard sadhu worshiping Hindu family. The two never see eye to eye and their marriage goes for a toss. Shikha treats her Christian husband as an untouchable and refuses to sleep with him. Jwala finds solace in his maidservant. Will his relationship with his wife survive

Genghise khan is a Royal Bengal tiger who is paired up with an idiot who was brought up in a zoo. The tigers are rehabilitated in the forests of Chitwan. The zoo bred tiger is unable to kill fleet footed animals so goes hammer and tongs for the humans. They are an easy target for him. The humans react and go hammer and tongs for the tigers. A ding dong war ensues and the zoo bred tiger is hunted and killed. In the fight Genghise is fatally wounded in his feet. He now cannot hunt fleet footed animals so to stay alive he reluctantly becomes a man eater. And then the great man comes. There are...

Henry Phibbs is an American who settles down in India due to his love for Indian wild life. He retires from the Indian Forest Department. But the government of India has something else in store for him. A tiger he had nurtured and watched as the latter grew up into a strong male has gone rogue. It is a man eater and the Indians want it killed. Unfortunately, it is the age of wildlife conservation and big game hunters have gone extinct. Except a few old men who are still alive. Henry Phibbs is one of these old men to whom the Indian government turns to for help. He is called back from...