With the Indian immigrant population expanding in numbers across geographies, there are little Indias emerging everywhere in the world. Perhaps that is why the creator of the Audible Original series Murder at the Patel Motel, Maulik Pancholy, says he was inspired to create a series on similar lines. “Over half of the motels in the US are owned by Indian American families, most of whom have the last name Patel.” And so, Pancholy, along with his ensemble cast of Murray Bartlett, Karan Soni, Poorna Jagannathan, Iqbal Theba, Anna Camp, Adam Pally, and others, brings to life the story of Milan Patel, who returns to his family-run motel to celebrate the motel’s anniversary on the insistence of his mother, along with his gay partner in Montana, only to find himself amid a murder mystery.
Pancholy calls it an Agatha Christie-style mystery about a complicated Indian-American family settled in a town full of secrets and the return of a gay son forced to face his past.
The series begins with the first episode, in which Milan Patel is frantically calling 911 to report that his father has drowned in the pool. While reporting the murder, he finds his babysitter on the other side of the call, who recognises him and later, a childhood friend is found investigating the murder as an officer. Things complicate when it is discovered that the EpiPen Milan was using to try to revive his father was actually an Ozempic pen, putting him in a spot and further entangling the mystery. Whether the pen was replaced intentionally or was being secretly used by his father is a puzzle to solve. The various episodes of the podcast titled The Funeral, The Will, and High School Reunion take the listeners to both Patel’s past and the aftermath of the murder that takes one through the search of the will, family dynamics, and the workings of the motel in the middle of nowhere.
When the police attribute the death to an allergic reaction, Milan sets on his own path of investigation, uncovering a whole new set of lies and deception. The podcast keeps you on the edge till the end and balances good storytelling with humour and voices that stay with you and carve their own identity. Actors like Poorna Jagannathan (known for Never Have I Ever) add their own flair and comic touch to the narration and enhance the narrative styles.
The series presents an interesting story for those who enjoy murder mysteries with a touch of humour. It has been co-written by Zackary Grady and Achilles Stamatelaky.