Kuldesh Sharma: The Murder That Starts It All
Overview
Kuldesh Sharma is an eighty-year-old antiques dealer who runs Kemptown Curios in Brighton. He is the first victim of the novel: his murder on the night of 27th December is the event that propels the Thursday Murder Club into a new investigation. Though he appears only briefly alive (primarily in the prologue and chapter 4), his presence haunts the entire story. Kuldesh is a widower, deeply lonely, and acutely aware of his own mortality. He was a close friend of Stephen, Elizabeth’s husband, and had previously assisted the club in a case involving rare books. His death is professional—a single gunshot to the head in a secluded Kent woodland—and it becomes the central puzzle the club must solve.
Plot Role
Kuldesh’s murder is the inciting incident. On 27th December, he receives an ugly terracotta box from a Scouse man (later identified as Dominic Holt) and is told a buyer will pay £500 the next morning. Suspecting the box contains heroin, Kuldesh hides it separately as “insurance” before driving to a pre-arranged meeting in the woods. He makes two phone calls—one to Professor Nina Mishra, an archaeologist, and another to a high-end criminal number (Code 777). He is shot before he can explain about the box. The missing heroin and the box become the central MacGuffin. The Thursday Murder Club, the police (Chris and Donna), and various criminals all race to find the heroin and identify the killer. Kuldesh’s death also triggers Elizabeth’s parallel investigation and forces the club to confront themes of grief and justice.
Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions
Loneliness and risk-taking: In the prologue, Kuldesh thinks, “He’s nearly eighty years old, so when better to take that risk? What’s the worst that can happen? They find him and kill him?” He is willing to gamble his life because he misses the “roar of life” after losing his wife and watching his friend Stephen decline.
Caution and intelligence: When the box is forced on him, he locks it in his safe and Googles the street price of heroin. He hides the box before the meeting, keeping it as insurance to buy himself time. This shows he is not naive but strategically cunning.
Loyalty to friends: He had previously worked with Stephen and Elizabeth on a murder case, and the novel mentions that he thinks fondly of the “Murder Club.” His connection to Stephen is deep; Stephen remembers him even in the fog of dementia.
Theatricality and dignity: Kuldesh dresses in a purple suit, cream silk shirt, and yellow brogues even when few customers will come. He treats his shop as theatre. This suggests a man who finds meaning in performance and routine, fighting the emptiness of being alone.
Acceptance of his age: He does not rage against his dwindling life. Instead, he accepts the risk of death as a reasonable trade, remarking that being killed “wouldn’t be so bad” compared to the slow fade he sees in Stephen.
Chronological Arc
- Boxing Day / 27th December (morning): Kuldesh opens his shop to avoid loneliness. Dominic Holt forces the terracotta box on him for £50, threatening death if it goes missing. Kuldesh locks it in his safe, suspects heroin.
- 27th December (afternoon): He hides the box separately as insurance. He makes two phone calls: to Nina Mishra and to a Code 777 number.
- 27th December (evening): He visits Big Dave’s hardware store and buys a spade (likely to bury the box). He tells no one his plans.
- 27th December (11 p.m.): He drives to a dirt track in Kent. A second car arrives. Kuldesh sees the flash of a gunshot and dies instantly.
- New Year’s Day: His body is found by a dog walker. Police identify him and link him to the Thursday Murder Club via Donna’s prior meeting.
- 4th January: Kuldesh’s funeral is held. The club, police, and a stranger (Big Dave) attend. Elizabeth secretly learns about the phone calls and the Code 777 number.
- Later in the novel: The investigation reveals Kuldesh’s hidden lock-up garage and the box of heroin. It is eventually dug up by Bogdan and the club from an allotment. The heroin is used as bait to catch the murderer.
- Final chapters: The ancient terracotta box (originally from Afghanistan and millennia old) is sold to a criminal collector, with proceeds handled by the club.
Relationships
| Person | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Stephen | Close friend. Kuldesh often played chess with him. Stephen, despite his dementia, remembers Kuldesh fondly and sends him a silent farewell after learning of his death. Kuldesh reflects on Stephen’s decline as a mirror of his own fears. |
| Elizabeth | Acquaintance through the Murder Club. She takes up his case with fierce determination, partly out of loyalty to Stephen. |
| Prisha | Kuldesh’s deceased wife. She is mentioned in his thoughts; he misses her deeply. Stephen sends his love to her, showing how ingrained she is in their shared history. |
| Nina Mishra | An archaeologist and friend. Kuldesh called her for ethical advice on the day of his death. She describes him as someone who often sought guidance on provenance and morality. |
| Dominic Holt | The courier who delivered the heroin box. Holt is the last person to see Kuldesh alive before the killer, and he later dies in a similar professional hit. |
| Big Dave | A local hardware store owner. Kuldesh bought a spade from him on the evening of the murder and wished him Merry Christmas. Big Dave becomes a key witness. |
Key Decisions and Consequences
- Hiding the box: Kuldesh decides not to bring the box to the meeting. This prolongs his life temporarily (the killer cannot get the heroin immediately) but also ensures his murder, as the killer needs to extract the location. The hidden box later becomes the club’s leverage.
- Calling a high-end criminal: The Code 777 number connects Kuldesh to Samantha Barnes, an antiques dealer involved in art crime. This call puts him on a dangerous path and is likely why he was killed—to silence him before he could reveal the transaction.
- Buying a spade: This suggests Kuldesh buried the box himself. The club later finds it in an allotment that Stephen had mentioned, confirming that Kuldesh trusted Stephen with the secret.
- Choosing to meet the killer alone: Kuldesh could have refused or called for help, but his risk-taking mindset leads him to the meeting. This decision costs him his life.
Theme and Symbol Connections
Mortality and Aging
Kuldesh is acutely aware that age has narrowed his world. He thinks, “The world is becoming a whisper.” His murder is framed not as a tragedy of a life cut short, but as a logical endpoint for someone who has already said goodbye to much of what he loved. This aligns with the novel’s broader exploration of how elderly people face death—some with fear, some with acceptance.
Grief and Loss
Kuldesh’s loneliness echoes the grief of many characters: Stephen losing his memory, Mervyn isolated by fraud, Joyce missing Gerry. His decision to risk everything can be read as a low-grade death wish, a commentary on how grief can make danger feel trivial.
Deception and Fraud
The terracotta box is a literal deception—it holds heroin hidden inside an ancient artifact. The antiques trade is portrayed as rife with forgery and stolen goods. Kuldesh himself navigates a gray market; he is not entirely innocent, though he is sympathetic.
Friendship and Loyalty
Kuldesh’s connection to Stephen is the emotional anchor of his arc. Stephen’s part in hiding the heroin (unwittingly or knowingly) ties the two friends together even after death. The club’s loyalty to Kuldesh drives them to pursue justice beyond official channels.
Justice vs. Law
The official police investigation is hampered by politics (Jill Regan from the NCA takes over). Kuldesh’s murder is solved by the Thursday Murder Club using unorthodox methods—tapping phones, withholding evidence, and setting traps. The novel suggests that true justice often lives outside the law.
5 Book-Specific Questions and Answers
1. Why did Kuldesh Sharma call Professor Nina Mishra on the day of his death?
The novel states that Kuldesh often called Nina Mishra for ethical advice on antiques. According to chapter 20, on 27th December he called her with a “dilemma,” but did not specify what it was. The text implies he wanted counsel on whether to cooperate with the heroin delivery or expose it.
2. What was the “insurance” Kuldesh referred to in the prologue?
Explicitly, Kuldesh drives to the woods without the terracotta box, thinking, “It is quite safe though, and that will keep him safe for the time being. That is his insurance.” Later, the club discovers that the box—and the heroin inside—had been buried on an allotment. The insurance was his knowledge of the box’s location, which he hoped to trade for his life.
3. Who actually killed Kuldesh?
The killer is Garth, the husband of antiques dealer Samantha Barnes. In chapter 82, Garth reflects on killing Kuldesh in cold blood at the motorway service station encounter (though the murder itself occurs in the woods). Later, in chapter 71, Luca Buttaci accidentally reveals that only the killer and police knew about Samantha’s death, which leads Garth to throw Luca off a car park. The text confirms Garth’s guilt through his own internal monologue.
4. Did Stephen know where Kuldesh hid the heroin?
The novel strongly suggests Stephen knew. In chapter 68, Elizabeth realizes that Stephen repeatedly mentioned an allotment he never owned, and Bogdan digs near radishes to find the box. Stephen’s dementia makes the memory hazy, but he likely helped Kuldesh bury it on Boxing Day or 27th December. The text does not explicitly state Stephen’s involvement, but the evidence is compelling.
5. What becomes of the ancient terracotta box after the story ends?
In the final chapters, the box (estimated to be six thousand years old) is sold to a criminal collector for a large sum. The proceeds are used by the Thursday Murder Club to support various causes, including Mervyn’s recovered funds and other acts of justice. The box’s journey from Afghanistan to Kent to a private collection underscores the novel’s themes of valuable objects and human greed.