The Murder of Sonia Raikkonen is Salil Desai‘s 4th published work and 3rd crime thriller. The book brings back the team of Inspector Saralkar and Constable Motkar from Desai’s debut – Killing Ashish Karve. And thankfully so. After a dismissal 2nd book – Murder on the Side Street, where the author attempted with a group of young investigators, I am glad
Read moreMurder on the Side Street by Salil Desai is the author’s second novel. I happened to read Desai for the first time while reading a review copy of Killing Ashish Karve, which was his debut work. And it was impressive. Tightly written. When I started using Kindle, I came across his second work on a monthly deal and the author’s name
Read moreCrime fiction in India especially Indian writing in English (IWE) has always lacked that one awesome, swish-buckling investigator. Barring the ones in regional literature translations like Byomkesh Bakshi or Feluda, our crime fiction is still very nascent as far as looking forward to a rocking investigator and his/ her awe inspiring criminal invincibility is concerned. Though authors like Piyush Jha
Read moreI am making a comeback to solicited book reviews and City of Death by Abheek Barua is the book that marks it. A review copy accepted after long and was it worth it or not? Lets find out. City of Death is primarily the story of a serial killer who is trying to perfect his act of slaughter. It is
Read moreRalph Findlay, a successful businessman, commits suicide. Jack, his son, is devastated. But soon after the suicide, a note finds its way to Jack from someone named The Saldirgan, claiming to know Jack’s secret. Already traumatized by the loss of his father, the note makes no sense to him. Not till his dear friend is killed, and he discovers the
Read moreThe cover page of this particular book grabbed my eyeballs. Seeing it and without reading the synopsis (a first for me!) I had decided I want to read this one. It lets out such a strong message. Kudos to Geetali for a splendid job. Smita and Krishnaprem are in love. They are ambitious people. Also dealing with their own complications.
Read more‘Being an avid reader of crime fiction myself, I have always harbored an ambition to make my own humble contribution to this genre,’ said writer Sourabh Mukherjee in an interview. ‘The story, of course, had its germs in my own interests in human psychology and in the complexities of human relationships, especially in these times of changing social order.’ ‘Also,
Read moreI devour crime fiction. There are not many Indian authors who attempt this genre. So when I got an the opportunity to read this crime fiction by Joygopal, I immediately took it up. Joygopal had written 5 novels in 9 months in 2012. Also 10 novels in 21 months. Alarmed by his speed, I was pretty excited to read Chief Minister’s
Read moreI first heard of the ePublishing venture – Bloody Good Book (BGB) on Twitter (through the tweets of the founder herself – Rashmi Bansal). BGB is a unique eBook publishing venture where the power of crowd sourcing & crowd curating is used to find the book that is considered for publishing by BGB & Westland Books. Brutal by Uday Satpathy
Read moreBest known for writing crime fiction, Vish Dhamija’s latest offering Deja Karma is a legal psychological fiction. Crowned as the India’s John Grisham, Deja Karma has undoubtedly stimulated the genre of legal fiction in India which was almost non-existent before the arrival of Dhamija on the scene. As suggested by the title, the book commences with the imploration of the
Read more“What has, however, clearly happened in my case is the discovery that in all probability there is a vital defect in my technique of the working of non-violence. There was no real appreciation of non-violence in the thirty years’ struggle against British Raj. Therefore, the peace that masses maintained during that struggle of a generation with exemplary patience, had not
Read moreOriginally published in the year 2002 by Indialog Publications, Just the Facts, Madamji is authoress Sharmila Kantha’s debut work of fiction that introduces us to her very authentic detective, Mr. Ramji. Now, I won’t for a second believe that the Indian publishing industry back then was anything close to like what it is nowadays; especially in fiction—especially in the mystery genre.
Read moreMost of us who are devout fans of the mystery genre have a certain degree of fixation with the whodunits. They suck you into its mystery unlike any other sub-genre. They seduce you to have a look into them and before you even know it, you’ll have immersed yourself into the action in the form of an invisible detective—someone who
Read moreBrooks Town is a sleepy hill station that hasn’t changed much since independence. Everybody knows one another, and secrets, it seems, are rare. But Charlotte Hyde has some rather big secrets that she manages to guard very well. Only one person – Soumen – knows all her deepest and darkest secrets, but he is a rather unreliable character, appearing and
Read moreShe has one of the most intriguing author profiles, we have ever come across Indian writers: Ambalika was born during an extraordinary planetary eclipse that had momentarily wiped off the sunshine from her life. When the darkness threatened to take over, she wrote and wrote, and when the eclipse passed, she found that she had authored this book. When she
Read moreCertain things when they associate with certain places hold a very different level of excitement. Crime and Mumbai have a similar association. Blame it on the reputation of the city or hindi cinema but the association runs deep and the proposition always excites. Last year when filmmaker Piyush Jha decided to move his mode of story telling from celluloid to pulp he took it upon himself to explore the fascinating yet rarely explored genre ( in India) of crime thriller. And choose his favourite muse Mumbai as the canvas. Mumbai and crime – the stage was set.
Read morePart of South Asian Challenge 2013, Debut Indian Writers Challenge 2013 and Reading Challenge 2013: First Reads A crime thriller should have pace. It should have multiple suspects. All suspects should have motives. All motives should be equally compelling. And finally the fun is in spite of all the suspects and their motives, the murderer turns out to be someone we (the reader) suspected
Read moreEntry no. #5 – Debut Indian Writers Month: October 2012 Part of Debut Indian Writers Challenge and South Asian Challenge 2012 Title: Death in Mumbai Author: Meenal Baghel Publisher: Random House India ISBN: 978-8-184-00065-8 Pages: 231 Genre: Non-Fiction Rating: 3 of 5 Reviewed for: Random House India
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