The Great Hiatus of Holmes’ life has always been a source of endless speculation, and inspiration to authors. “The Canary Trainer ” by Nicholas Meyer (published as ‘a lost manuscript by John H. Watson, M.D.’) is third in the series of his books explaining the absence of Holmes from his homeland.

Following his “adventure” with Dr. Freud (more about it later), Sherlock Holmes finds himself on a sabbatical in Paris. There a curious incident at the Grand Opera allows him to fulfill one of his dreams, working as a professional violinist. He is just getting used to the curious culture of the Opera, and the conductor Gaston Leroux, when Irene Adler arrives to take the place of an ill prima donna.

Irene Adler recognizes Holmes in his guise as the Swedish violinist Sigerson, and gives him 2 choices: she can disclose Holmes’ identity, thereby ending his vacation, or he can help protect her friend, the young coloratura Christina Daaè.

It seems the “ghost” who everybody knows lives in the opera (and blackmails the managers into giving him monthly allowance) has taken a liking for the young singer. He trains her as a voice in the walls, and acts as her mentor. But when the new managers stop listening to the Ghost’s warnings and when his love starts endangering the lives of people, including Christina, Holmes has to step in and face The Ghost of The Opera.

Most of you must, by this time, know where the story is coming from. But the insertion of Holmes lore into a story from a completely different genre is almost seamless. None of the characters or events seem out of the line for either stories. There are many tantalizing clues as to what Holmes feels about Irene Adler (although he is mostly clueless about him), and even that does not seem completely out of character.

Perhaps that is due to the entire tone of the series. While the world is thinking that Holmes died at Reichenbachfall, the series starts with giving a completely different explanation for his disappearance. Holmes is much more human in the series, yet keeps his superhuman skills. His sojourn in Paris starts with anonymity, which he enjoys, maybe a bit too much. So much so that he allows Irene Adler to blackmail him, but that may also be due to his ability to refuse an interesting puzzle.

The book is mostly a tussle between his two great talents: as a violinist and as The Detective, and he seems sad with the outcome. We get a much deeper insight into his psyche, because the story is narrated by him during his time at Wessex, and Watson’s role is just writing it down (err, the remembering it and dictating it in his old age home). Which is why it differentiates from the stories in the canon which are narrated by Holmes in a clinical, detached manner. That’s what makes it an interesting tale.

Quote of The Day:

… it now occurred to me that the place I should like to visit was Paris, a city I scarcely knew, which was ironic, as I am of French descent.

- Sherlock Holmes, The Canary Trainer

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Read about some other mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, and other detective stories.

Given my experiences with the writings of Spanish authors, especially Arturo Perez-Reverte, and their style, I was a bit reluctant to lay my hands of “The Flanders Panel ” (La tabla de Flandes). But then, I find chess-involved storyline hard to resist, and surprisingly, the book didn’t really step down into the pits of gloom.

Julia is a young artist and art restorer who is restoring a painting called “A Game of Chess” by a fifteenth century Flemish master, for an auction. When an x-ray of the painting reveals a painted over description “Qvis Necavit Eqvitem” (Latin, meaning Who killed the Knight?), Julia and her friend/guardian César decide to solve the 500 year old mystery.

Convinced that the game in the painting holds the key to the solution, they take help of a local chess-master, Muñoz. But just when they decipher the clues of the chess board, the art historian they are working with is found dead. It seems someone is bent on taking the game of chess forward, with very real (and very deadly) results.

Julia is surrounded by such expected characters of art world as an old art dealer who flaunts her sexuality, young “confused” artists and the dealers/patrons “guiding” them to recognize themselves, auction house executives who will easily stab each other in the back just to get that elusive/famous painting. Other common characters, like an “old money” client selling his painting in his destitute years, his relatives who want some restitution for the years they took care of him, also make an appearance.

Perez-Reverte’s novels often have strong female characters in the centre, and this novel is not much different. Julia is an independent and confident young woman, and while she will run to César for problems and accept help from Munoz she doesn’t really need any knight in shining armour to pull her through.

César, the “flamboyant old queen”, is her confidant and guardian, who brought up the almost orphan Julia and continues to be her father figure and closest friend. Muñoz, the chess player, is another typical tormented, mildly anti-social, shy around women character whom regular Perez-Reverte readers will easily recognize.

The painting and the game of chess almost make up another main character in the novel, given that the entire storyline revolves around the chess game coming to life. It is always fun to “play” the game in your mind while the story goes on around you (don’t say it, I am a proud nerd when it comes to chess).

If you like art and/or chess with your daily dose of good mystery, this is a novel for you. And don’t worry, like his later novels, this won’t drown you in gloom and then add a dash of depression to taste.

Quote of The Day:

Many have become Chess Masters, no one has become the Master of Chess.

- Siegbert Tarrasch

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Read review of “The Club Dumas” here.

If asked which one person we would have liked to see again, true Holmesians would vote for Irene Norton née Adler with a huge majority, if not by an unanimous vote. A Soul of Steel by Carole Nelson Douglas is a novel from her Irene Adler series which tries to fulfill that fantasy.

Irene and her husband Godfrey Norton are spending their “posthumous” lives with their friend cum housekeeper Miss Penelope Huxleigh in Paris, when a man from Nell Huxleigh’s past is thrust in their lives.

Capt. Emerson Quentin Stanhope, presumed dead in Afghanistan, has found that  somebody is trying to silence him because of the secrets he holds about battle of Maiwand a decade past. And by association, the life of the doctor who saved him on the battlefield might also be in danger. When Stanhope is found, sick and dying, by Irene and her friends, they decide to help him find and warn the Dr. Watson. But, helping Quentin makes them a target for an extremely dangerous hunter, and they have to knock on the doors of 221B, Baker Street to bring the mystery to conclusion.

Chronologically, the story does take a few liberties with Holmes canon. Taking place some time after “Scandal in Bohemia”, during and after “Naval Treaty” (possibly placing it back by some time), it introduces a major character before it appears in canon (If we go by timeline according to this novel, there are some serious questions about Watson’s memory re: people trying to kill him). Although, that’s just the Holmesian in me cribbing.

Characters-wise, Godfrey Norton is your Standard English Gentleman, a good friend and a honourable man. He and Irene are completely in love with each other (though their married life sounds a bit more 20th century American than 19th century English) and are equal partners in their adventures. And of course, he is understandably jealous of The Man his wife remains fascinated with.

Miss “Nell” Huxleigh is the typical vicar’s daughter, governess in a respectable family kind of girl. She is Watson to Irene’s Holmes (although she will not approve of that comparison). Loyal to the fault and having lived a sheltered life before sharing in Irene’s adventures, Nell is the voice of caution in the household. And that explains her feelings towards Holmes.

Irene on the other hand is portrayed as the equal and opposite of Holmes. They both share liking for adventure, the ennui coming out of commonplace existence, the flair for drama, as well as the immovable sense of justice. But where Holmes is an analytical machine, Irene the Prima Donna is impulsive and emotional (in short, dare I say, a woman); jumping into whatever catches her fancy without a thought for dangers involved.

This is before Watson’s stories start getting published, and hence Holmes to Irene’s friends is a just paid agent trying to swindle Irene out of her only means of danger. Since this is a story from “the other side”, that was the only reason I could read the portrayal of Holmes for most part. Given that tone of the novel, I was worried about the eventual meeting between Holmes and Irene, but a careful reading was enough to dispel my doubts.

In short, if you can’t get enough of the world of Holmes, or (like somebody said,) you can’t get enough of The Woman who got better of Holmes, this is for you. For me, continuing the series would depend on how they talk about The Man.

Quote of The Day:
And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of The Woman.
- Dr. John H. Watson, A Scandal in Bohemia

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Read reviews of other Detective mysteries, and other mysteries from Holmes-world.

We all know Isaac Asimov as the father of Three (sorry, Four) Laws of Robotics and the creator of the two Foundations, but he also created one of the most memorable groups of amateur detectives, The Black Widowers.

Although the name sounds like an assassins’ cabal, or a menacing secret society (or maybe a support group for serial killers), the reality is far from that. The Black Widowers is a men-only dining group, who gather together once a month at the Milano Restaurant, joined by a guest (chosen by the host of the month). There they spend the evening having a nice gourmet dinner, served by their deferential waiter Henry, followed by “grilling” the guest.

But once it so happens that the guest has a puzzle, a crime he cannot solve. The Black Widowers gladly sink their teeth into it, trying to find the solution. And since they enjoy the experience so much, it becomes routine for the host to seek out a guest with an unsolvable “crime” to narrate, and for the Widowers (along with their unofficial member Henry) to puzzle it out.

The disadvantage of the short stories is that the characters have very little time to take shape. The advantage of a series is that the characters start to emerge from a diverse group into an artist, a patent lawyer, a cryptographer, a math teacher, a chemist and a mystery writer, not to mention the Jeeves-like Henry (no last name known). Each of them brings to the table their individual way of thinking, attitude and of course, cribbing and fights, and with time, their own practical/romantic/cynical ways of looking at the puzzles.

Most of the stories take place in almost the same setting (the restaurant dining room) and follow almost the same format throughout all the books. Even though this makes for a repetitive structure, it also places the whole focus on the crime being discussed (and gives a whole new meaning to the term “armchair detectives”). They get to solve a whole range of crimes, from forgery, espionage, space warps to murder over the series of 66 stories. The guests too cover a whole range of spectrum, from graduate students, spooks, plumbers and so on.

Oh, and Asimov does spread enough clues over the pages for the aspiring detectives to follow (and try to overtake) the Black Widowers. So don’t forget your thinking caps to the dinner.

With Iliad in sonnets, and nice cozy mysteries to mull over, if you are in market for some short (around a dozen pages long) light detective stories, do eavesdrop on a Black Widowers dinner. And if you are lucky enough to be a guest, remember to be ready for a grilling with questions like “how do you justify your existence?”

Quote of The Day:
Thomas Trumbull: It is a rule of the Black Widowers that all members are doctors by virtue of membership. A doctor for any other reason is…
Arnold Stacy: A doctor doctor.
Emmanuel Rubin: You can count honorary doctorates too. But then, I would have to be called Doctor Doctor Doctor…

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It is a rare Spanish author who does not get me down with the heavy tragic tones of his novel. And it is a rarer one still who does not make me want to finish the novel in one sitting, despite the fact that I am going to feel sad while reading it. “The Shadow of the Wind” (Original: La Sombra del Viento) by Carlo Ruiz Zafón did not disappoint me on either count.

The day young Daniel Sampere wakes up not remembering the face of his dead mother, he finds a book called “The Shadow of the Wind” written by Julian Carax in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Right from the start, Daniel is captivated by the book, and wants to know more about the author.

Unfortunately, he finds out in his quest that the author never sold more than 50 copies of any of his books, and was killed on the morning of his marriage to a rich benefactor, his  body found in a gully and buried in communal grave. What is interesting is the story of a man going around buying and burning all the copies of Carax’ books. In his quest, he meets and falls in love with beautiful but blind Clara Barcelo. But Clara being almost ten years older than him, he soon finds out that she has “betrayed” his love.

Thus starts the second chapter in his life, and his by now almost forgotten quest. Aided by Fermín Romero de Torres, a man who has fallen on hard times after the Spanish Civil War, he starts once again to piece together Julien Carax from memories of people who knew him. In this, he meets people like Father Fernando Ramos, a childhood friend of Julien, Nuria Monfort (the secretary in the firm which published Carax’ novels), who is hiding some secrets of her own, and Jacinta Coronado, the governess of Penelope Aldaya, one and only love of Julian.

But he also comes across dangerous men like Francisco Javier Fumero, once the friend of Julian, and now a murderous and influential police inspector, who would rather keep the dead matters dead, and a man with burned face, who calls himself Laín Coubert, the same name as the Devil in Shadow of the Wind.

Right from the time Julian Carax’ story starts unfolding, we realise that the lives of Daniel and Julien run on parallel, although not quite similar tracks. While Julien’s life is a story of one tragedy after another, Daniel lives a much better life, somehow avoiding all those downfalls.

Julien grows up with father who hates him and his mother, while Daniel enjoys a much closer and loving relationship with his father. Julian falls in love with Penélope Aldaya, the daughter of his benefactor and sister of his rich friend. Daniel finds his first love in Clara, the niece of a rich books dealer, who is the first person Daniel approaches for help in his quest for Julian, and then in Beatriz Aguilar, the sister of his rich friend Tomás.

Both Julian and Daniel are hunted by the ruthless Inspector Fumero, while Coubert has proven that he may not let anything stop him from burning Julian’s books, thus completely erasing Julian’s name and memories from world. But both Julian and Daniel are lucky to have good friends, who love and help them selflessly to the end.

As I said, the book has heavy tragic tones in the story. The entire book is set in the post-WWII and post-Civil War era, with its shadow and effects constantly present in the background. Even so, this is another of book-lovers’ dreams (and is aptly compared to “The Club Dumas“), with its concept of Cemetary of Forgotten Books,  the place where forgotten books are kept and every initiate must choose one book to protect from oblivion. This concept that the author lives and dies with his books may almost be the mainstay of the storyline.

All in all, despite the dark and gothic storyline, mysterious mansions with their own secrets lending the place settings and even darker characters (sometimes, Inspector Fumero seems like the hero The Joker never had), I am looking forward to reading “The Angel’s Game” (El Juego del Ángel), the prequel to the Shadow. Kind of like eating raw mango (kairi), I know I am going to spend next two hours without a feeling in my gums, but it is worth the pain and discomfort.

Quote of The Day:
. . . few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart.
- Daniel Sampere, The Shadow of The Wind

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Museums, with their ancient and often half-known artifacts are always a place of mystery for everybody. Add a basement and a sub-basement storing millions of uncatalogued artifacts, and you have got yourself a thriller.

The first book in the Pendargast series, “The Relic” by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child takes full advantage of the setting.

New York Museum of Natural History is rocked by the vicious murders of 2 boys, just before the museum is to open a new exhibit on “Superstition“. When a guard is also found dead, the previously-hushed rumours of the museum beast start to gain public attention. But the Museum has no time to hear the caution of Lt. D’Agosta, or the FBI Special Agent Aloysius X. L. Pendergast (who is following a similar decade-old case in New Orleans). Meanwhile, a prominent member of the museum staff, Dr. Frock believes that the “beast” is a much-needed proof of his theory of “Callisto Effect”. He, along with his student Margo Green sets of to prove his theory.

Pendergast continues to follow the trail of the murderer. The trail starts in a doomed expedition to Brazil, from where the figurine of man-beast Mbwun, the progeny of devil (whose figurine shows features suspiciously similar to the murder weapon) was found, and shipped via New Orleans to museum. Meanwhile,as the cautious voices are overruled by political pressure (and replaced by a blustering Agent from New York office) , the grand exhibit opening is marred when a corpse is found stashed in the hall, and the resultant chaos causes several people (including Mayor and other prominent members of society) to be stuck in the fortress that is museum, where the murderer is at large. While D’Agosta tries to get the people out of the museum, Pendergast, along with Dr. Frock and Margo Green are left to solve the mystery of the beast.

Special Agent Pendergast is a wealthy Southern gentleman, with the suiting mannerisms. Since he is a main character of the novel (and the series), I need not tell you that he is sharp, intelligent, conversant in many languages and subjects. But he also has some bad habits (which he says are hard to break), like not being “able to stand pompous, bureaucratic individuals” and so on.

Among other characters, Margo Green is a nerdy graduate student, who finds herself in the middle of action when she stands by her advisor Dr. Frock. On the other hand, Lt. D’Agosta is out to get the murderer, and is quite happy watching Pendergast steamroll over the difficulties in the path, so that the investigation can go forward. They get along quite well. The main focus is shared among these characters, with Pendergast leading by his sheer force of will.

The book was a very good introduction to the characters (which I feel are well-developed), and does fulfill the role of the start of the series. With nice details of museum politics (believe me, watching Friends doesn’t give you all the insight into this), mystery of genetic manipulation, and action in the vaults filled by artifacts, the book is a very good read. I am really looking forward to getting to the rest of the series.

Incidentally, the first book I read by the authors was “The Codex“, which was more of “Relic Hunter” kind of novel, than say “Tomb Raider” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark“. I was also expecting this book to continue the same tradition, but I was pleasantly surprised. But then, the surprises do continue even in the epilogue, which set the tone for the sequel, Reliquary.

P.S. If you don’t know what I mean by “Relic Hunter” kind of novel vs. “Tomb Raider” kind of novel, do read the books I mentioned, and you will get it.

P.P.S. This is the second book I read for “Book to Movie Challenge“. The challenge will be round-up with next post.

Quote of The Day:

I respond sharply to insults. It’s a very bad habit, but one I find hard to break.
- Special Agent Aloysius X. L. Pendergast (FBI)

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Chronologically, I guess “The Mirror Crack’d” by Agatha Christie is one of the last few cases of Miss Marple.

Old and frail (yet sharp as ever), she is watching the world around her (and St. Mary Mead in particular) change with times. The village is all buzzing because a famous actress Marina Gregg and her director husband, Jason Rudd have taken residence in the Gossington Hall. But when the hall is opened for visitors for a fete, Heather Badcock, a local fan of Marina Gregg is poisoned in the private party for local VIPs.

The problem is, it is soon established that Marina passed Heather her drink when Heather’s own drink was accidentally spilled, and so it is more likely that somebody tried to kill Marina. With the investigation muddled, the only clue to the police is that Marina looked horrified/startled to see something while she was listening to Heather tell her a typical fan story of how she got sneaked of the sickbed to shake hands with Marina once before. Inspector Craddock has no choice except to get the help of his old acquaintance Miss Marple.

But after an initial period of no-progress, people start remembering things they saw, and start getting murdered (just as Miss Marple predicted). That is when she has to actively step in and solve the case.

Marina Gregg is a typical “famous film actress”, with myriad unhappy marriages and adopted children in tow. Unfortunately, her biological child is born mentally challenged, and she is just coming out of “therapy” and planning to get back to acting. Her (current) husband Jason Rudd is in love with her, and spends a lot of time protecting her from the world. Which of course gets on the nerves of his secretary. All in all, Gossington Hall is a typical filmy household containing famous people.

As I said, this is one of the last cases of Miss Marple. The old lady is frail, chaperoned by the (too much) fawning Mrs. Knight who is hired to keep her company. Her world is changing, with the village filled with people from The Development (married couples living in fabricated houses they bought on installment). She does not really fit in with the “new” residents, while there are very few old residents remaining around. But she is still as sharp as ever, and though people have changed, they are still the same way inside, and act the same way as ever. That’s why it is easy for her to place people and their motives, and so she is still able to help Inspector Craddock, and solve the case as usual.

It took me some time to get into Miss Marple mysteries after the fast-paced world of Holmes and even Poirot. But The Mirror Crack’d is a classical representative of the stories where Miss Marple solves the cases (sometimes literally) from her armchair, just based on psychology of characters involved. Not to mention that this is one more of the novels whose titles come from poems and nursery rhymes (which is perhaps Agatha Christie speciality).

P.S. This is my third book (and first review) for “Book to Movie Challenge“. Although I haven’t watched the movie yet, I am trying to get my hands on it. I just hope they haven’t made it into something akin to “And Then There Were None…“.

Quote of The Day:

Out flew the web and floated wide-
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott.
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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Have you ever felt like you are living in a book? Did you ever think that the feeling of deja vu you got was the result of the book you just read?Mysterious women… Devil worshippers… The lure of the greatest swashbuckling novel ever… Forget all that, a book about the world of booklovers and collectors with a book detective as the protagonist. I don’t need to say that Johnny Depp played the part of the protagonist in the movie (which is a Roman Polanski film) to let you know that “The Club Dumas” by Arturo Perez-Reverte is a novel worthy of being included in my “If You Liked The Da Vinci Code…” series.

When a rich publisher and Dumas enthusiast is found to have committed suicide, police call Lucas Corso, a antiquarian book dealer to authenticate a manuscript found near his body. Corso meets a Dumas expert Boris Balkan(who is the narrator of the book), who tells him that the manuscript (which the dead man wanted to sell through Corso’s occasional book dealer friend) is an authentic manuscript of a chapter from The Three Musketeers, The Anjou Wine.

Meanwhile, a rich book collector and occult enthusiast called Varo Borja calls Corso on a job. He has a copy of a medieval book called “The Book of Nine Doors of Kingdom of Shadows”, and wants Corso to get him the original out of the other two copies in existence. Out of three copies, only one is supposed to be original, which contains the nine panels (illustrations) which when deciphered shows the reader the formula to call His Badness himself.

Before Corso goes on a all-expenses paid trip to Europe on his mission, he finds himself playing the role of a modern day d’Artagnan. The widow of the dead man wants the chapter manuscript back at all costs, and he is being followed by a man with a scar in scenes reminiscent of the plot of the swashbuckler, with a Cardinal Richelieu-like man directing all the events. On his trip, Corso meets a mysterious young backpacker called Irene Adler, who saves him from the modern day Rochefort. His mission goes awry when he discovers that there are differences between the illustrations of the three copies of Nine Doors, but before he can get his hands on the other two copies, the owners die in mysterious circumstances and the two copies vanish.

Corso loses his conciousness, the manuscript of The Anjou Wine and Borja’s copy of Nine Doors in an attack. To get his books back, he has to go to Meung (a place from Musketeers), where he discovers the secret behind the manuscript and the Club Dumas, which gives rise to the bigger secret of the copies of Nine Doors.

Corso is (in keeping with all Perez-Reverte protagonists), a middle-aged embittered man, alone in life. A mercenary book detective, he is available for the biggest bidder to get the rare books they want, at whatever the cost. For him, books are just a means to his living. In typical Perez-Reverte fashion, he finds himself used by mysterious pretty ladies in the middle of his normal life.

His companion (later romantic interest) in the mission is a mysterious lady named after “The Lady” from Holmes. While she is a young backpacker, she is also a pretty lady who knows a lot about Devil and devil worship and capable of taking care of herself and Corso in a tight spot. She keeps popping into his life at regular intervals and keeps him getting him out of trouble. His true identity is revealed at the end, which marks her as an important part of final confrontation.

This book served as my introduction to the terrific author that is Arturo Perez-Reverte. Though translated from his original Spanish, the book contains a great plot, nice commentary on the antiquarian book trade (forging and trading included) and demonology. Wikipedia agrees with me when it states that the book is “a bibliophile’s fantasy”. A book about book trade, it avoids most of the negative points in “The Rule of Four”, while building on all the positive points, thus making it a solid 2.0 on BES.

A small advise: Though Johnny Depp stars as Corso in “The Ninth Gate”, as the name suggests, the plot is changed a lot, so make sure you read the book before you see the movie to avoid disappointment.

Quote of The Day:

It was you who filled in the blanks on their own, as if what happened were a novel based on trickery, with Lucas Corso the reader too clever for his own good.
- Boris Balkan

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No series on detectives will be complete without a review of lady detectives. Or at least, I thought so…

But, when I started searching for lady detectives in Indian fiction, I found a veritable dearth of them. Despite real life examples like Kiran Bedi and reel-life examples like “Udaan” (my recollections of which are very hazy, except that it was a nice serial), lady sleuths in mainstream Indian literature are very rare to find. Of course, so are sleuth’s ladies (only Byomkesh’ Satyaboti and Bahadur’s Bela come to mind), but that’s for another article.

That’s why there is no plural in the title…

Uma Rao:

Daughter-in-law of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, wife of a Superintendent, Uma Rao is your traditional housewife, or as “traditional” as you can get while being on first name basis with ministers on both sides of marriage. But, when she starts to write her thesis on criminals, it is not just her introduction to criminals, but to sleuthing as well.

When she finds a hijra vehemently denying that he killed one of the members of his community, she decides to help the person she believes is innocent. With the help of a constable from her husband’s office, she uncovers the truth behind the murder, in the process finding the roots of crime reaching the highest echelons of Bangalore’s society. Flush with her success, she goes on to find the true murderer of a wealthy English Lady (literally), who has come to India to meet her brother who is living in an ashram.

The brother turns out to be a member of Homicide Squad in Britain, and so, when a famous actor (working in a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Independence Day) disappears and is murdered after reappearing, the British counsel gets the help from Uma Rao, who is watching the play. They find out that the wife of the actor is not the real killer, despite their marriage supposedly being on rocks.

Written by Sahitya Akademi Award-winner Mahesh Dattani, the three plays show us a housewife turning into a sleuth, first only because she wants to help a person whom she assumes to be innocent. Later on, as a famous detective, whose renown reaches even British isles, she turns what initially is a thesis into a quest for her own identity.

Of course, her journey to fame and independence is not without obstacles. She has to venture into the most dangerous districts in the underbelly of Bangalore, face attempts on her life, and since that is not enough, face conflict with her husband who is not so happy with her foray into practical side of crime fighting. But despite that, the “intrepid sleuth” brings the criminals to justice.

As I said before, despite a lot of research I could not find any more lady (or girl) detectives in mainstream Indian literature. Have I forgotten (or not found) anybody?

But, I did find an interesting difference between male and female detectives which is not limited to Indian literature. Men (or the detective stories with main characters as men) don’t waste much time on their romantic entanglements or marital descriptions. e.g. Byomkesh is married, but Satyaboti, in spite of being an intelligent lady (which is why Byomkesh is attracted to her in first place) does not merit many lines in his stories (at least, his stories which I have read/seen till now). On the other hand, stories involving lady detectives have a lot more conflict of romantic (or marital) kind, which does tend to hog limelight from crime fighting sometimes, with the main character giving way to her emotions. Why do you think this difference?

Quote of The Day:

But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things.

- Sherlock Holmes (The Sign of Four)

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(and I don’t mean comical as in funny)

Try as I may, I cannot find any detectives in Indian comics. I mean, some (all?) of the Feluda stories was made into comics, and Fa Fe found his way into animated format via Tinkle, while we have a plethora of crime-fighters. But there are no detectives solely created for comics.

So , I am going to take this opportunity to talk about some crimefighters who don’t really make it into a Superhero grade, but are beyond your normal comics-guy-next-door.

• Bahadur: Son of a dacoit, raised by a police officer, Bahadur grew up to be a crime-fighter, with special interest in rehabilitating former dacoits. This he accomplishes with the help of his fiancée (and later wife) Bela, and Lakhan (a reformed dacoit) and his Citizen’s Security Force.If this sounds a lot like a hindi movie to you, don’t worry. Bahadur bears a lot of resemblance to the original angry young man Amitabh Bachchan, as can be seen from his features and his clothes (though he changed from kurta to t-shirt with times).While he battles mainly dacoits, he has fought every kind of criminal from common thieves to antiques smugglers to spies and terrorists. In the process, he has done a lot of detective work in uncovering common criminals, finding an ancient treasure in a Rajasthani fort and uncovering the “well of amrit” in a mythical city.Of course, if you think the guy who destroys terrorist training camps is not really a detective and hence should not be in this series, hey, I like the guy for being one of the few original comic heroes in India, and I can put him on this list if I want (for lack of any “real” detectives to write about), so sue me…
• Chacha Chaudhary: With a “brain faster than computer” and the help of his Jovian (and mostly jovial, unless fighting some villain) friend Sabu and dog Raacket (sorry, that’s how it’s written in Hindi), Chacha Choudhary has fought many criminals in his life, the chief of them being the accidently-turned-immortal Raaka. But apart from fighting Raaka, he has spent his life fighting crime in every guise.Again, this red turban and black jacket clad, white big moustachioed Chacha is not your traditional detective. But then, even though most of his time is spent thinking of new ways to imprison Raaka (who being immortal and super-strengthened now needs new ways to capture him like a cyclone, a magic bottle in the belly of a whale or orbiting the earth in space), a brain faster than computer cannot be wholly occupied with one single task, can it? Of course, Chacha Choudhary does spend some time in solving your normal crimes too.I think I should mention at this point that the TV serial, though having Rajpal Yadav as Chacha didn’t fulfil my expectations.

Again, as I said, I didn’t find any famous black-sunglasses and trench-coat clad detectives made into comic series, so I took chance of plugging a underrated (according to me) hero I like and everybody’s favourite uncle.

Do you have a favourite detective I should have mentioned?

P.S. Want more on Detectives? Check out my “Jasoos Series“.

Quote of The Day:

Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.

- Ambrose Bierce (1842 – 1914), The Devil’s Dictionary

Also cross-posted at Desicritics.

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