Love and Death in Kathmandu: A Strange Tale of Royal Murder [Hardcover]

Amy Willesee (Author), Mark Whittaker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2004

On June 1, 2001, the heir to the Nepalese throne, Crown Prince Dipendra, donned military fatigues, armed himself with automatic weapons, walked in on a quiet family gathering, and, without a word, mowed his family down before turning a gun on himself. But Dipendra did not die immediately, and while lying in a coma was declared king. He was now a living god.

Award-winning journalists Amy Willesee and Mark Whittaker set out to understand what could have led to such a devastating tragedy, one that fascinated and appalled the world. Exploring Kathmandu and other parts of the kingdom, they conducted exhaustive interviews with everyone from Maoist guerillas to members and friends of the royal family, gaining insight into the people involved in and the events behind the massacre. At the heart of the story is the love affair between Dipendra and the beautiful aristocrat Devyani Rana, whom he was forbidden to marry. Culminating their portrait of Nepal is a chilling reconstruction of the events of that fatal day.

As conspiracy theories circulate and rebels threaten to topple the monarchy, the future of this small Himalayan kingdom, promises to be as tumultuous as its past. Revealing a country where the twenty-first century mingles uneasily with the fourteenth, Love and Death in Kathmandu is both an enlightening portrait of a place that is a world apart and a riveting investigation of an incredible crime.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Australian authors Willesee and Whittaker's exploration of Nepalese Crown Prince Diprenda's killing of his family and himself in 2001 wisely provides as much insight into Nepalese culture as the crime itself. It also, after a promising start, becomes bogged down in a litany of royal family names and confusing relationships, which, admittedly, it might be beyond any writer to make sense of to a general reader. This failing aside, however, the book is an entertaining read. The crown prince's frustration at being 29 and not yet married, the queen's frustration with the prince for choosing a woman she believed unsuitable, and a myriad of other personal pressures are described against the backdrop of a country literally torn between progress and the past. Perhaps the oddest fact revealed is that before the crown prince died of his self-inflicted injuries, he was proclaimed the king. If the crown prince had not died, he would have ruled Nepal rather than been arrested for his crimes. The authors do an excellent job of showing how a web of tradition, local superstitions and a legacy of bloodshed helped sanction the prince's actions. From child brides to child goddesses, from Maoist rebels to drug smuggling, the book is full of compelling snapshots of Nepalese life.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In June 2001 a member of Nepal's royal family, Crown Prince Dipendra, gunned down his parents, the king and queen, his brother and sister, and (in the authors' words) "a collection of aunts and uncles." Then he killed himself. It was an event that shocked the country and the world, in part because of its violence and in part because of its motive: as near as anyone could tell, Dipendra murdered his family because they didn't approve of the woman he intended to marry. In this well-researched account of the tragedy and the events leading up to the crown prince's desperate act, the authors delve deep into the history, politics, and social structure of the country. They uncover a drama as poignant as any a novelist could create--a love story that led to murder. For true-crime aficionados and followers of the troubled history of Nepal. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312329946
• ISBN-13: 978-0312329945
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,039,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > History > Asia > Nepal

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Love and Death In Kathmandu, January 9, 2010

By 

Charlene Reznek - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Love and Death in Kathmandu: A Strange Tale of Royal Murder (Hardcover)

I loved this book. Since I had recently traveled to Kathmandu it was a more personal experience. A Friend who knew I had been to Nepal gave it to me and I passed it on to my daughters whom I had traveled with. It was intriguing and the descriptions of all the varied areas of Kathmandu were accurate.