Book excerpt: On August 11 1950, Constable Selvam and the other policemen from the quaint little town of Ithalar in the Nilgiris, find the dead body of Anderson Quill, the owner of the English Ithalar Tea Estate. The workers of the estate are acting mysteriously. They do not seem to care that their wages would be disturbed by the death of the unheired owner of the estate. Selvam searches the history of the estate and finds the numerous enemies Anderson Quill had, making the case more difficult by the hour. The killer, too, works tirelessly to give Selvam clues to get caught. Nobody knows why. But the biggest mystery is yet to be revealed. Selvam hears one name which gives him the creeps, repeatedly. Velavan.