Crisp whodunits, cute investigators!
This two-volume anthology comprises 36 short detective stories with a wide range of plots, settings and narrative styles. They are largely Indian stories written by Indian authors barring a couple from other sub-continental writers. Detective fiction is a subgenre of a whole range of writing loosely termed as crime fiction. Edgar Alan Poe’s ‘Murder in the Rue Morgue’ is considered the first English language detective short story. It established certain basic norms: First the detective remains the central character, the plot, shorn of externalities, is driven by his or her effort to find the truth behind a crime. Poe wrote the story in 1841. Even after almost 200 years, the detective short story has retained a key feature found in Poe: At the heart of the narrative is the investigator.
The first volume is largely a selection of stories of private investigators “following the whodunit template” as described by the editor. The first two are perennial favourites — the much-loved Prodosh K. Mitter (Feluda) created by Satyajit Ray followed by Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’s ‘The Truth Seeker’ Byomkesh Bakshi. Feluda and Byomkesh have become household names even outside Bengal because of the easy availability of excellent English translations. It is worth observing that it is the detectives who live on in our hearts like Holmes and Poirot, not necessarily the stories in which they feature. The third story, ‘Sepal’, introduces us to the first female detective Sudha Gupta in this anthology. Sudha Gupta is the creation of the versatile Dr C.S. Lakshmi who writes under the pen name, Ambai. This is an unexpectedly refreshing tale of a domestic crisis which could have led to tragic consequences without the compassionate involvement of Detective Gupta. ‘Gulmohar House’ is also an unusual story told in the first person by the caregiver of a wheelchair-bound patient Brajesh Gantra. She refers to him as BG and there has been an attempt to kill him off and everyone in the household has a motive. There are 15 other stories in this volume, all worth a dip. Some may not be as compelling as others. Even so, they deserve a read.
The second volume changes tack. We are now in the world of the policeman detective. The first story ‘Detective Kanaicharan and the Missing Ship’ is written by Rajarshi Das Bhowmik. The translation by Arunava Sinha catches the Bengali cadence exquisitely. Kanaicharan is the archetypal rejected police officer who hangs around headquarters and as he waits to be called back for his unusual skills, solves a cold case. Vikram Chandra’s Sartaj Singh of Sacred Games fame is back in this volume. These two elegantly produced volumes have encouraged this reviewer to explore the writings of some of the authors published here. Well done Hachette; perhaps the next time round, the very detailed Introduction could do with fewer end-notes.
The writer is a retired
publisher