How the love for murder mysteries created the Indian historical crime novel

Bombay is a special favourite in the Indian historical crime novel genre. Along with Sujatha Massey, authors Nev Merchant and Vaseem Khan also use British-era Bombay as their backdrop.

The Indian “historical detective novel” is here. Picture a brave young woman or a renowned historical figure stepping into the shadowy alleys of history, stumbling on a murder, following clues and in the final denouement, tying up all loose ends. I love murder mysteries — especially “cosy murder mysteries”.  There is a murder, sometimes multiple, but the rising body count is not disturbing. There are suspects with distinct and preferably florid personalities. In the historical detective novel- there is more charm — descriptions of notable architectural features, quaint location names, nostalgia of a bygone era. While the authors painstakingly make the period feel real and accurate, they also whisk you away to a make-believe world.  One where the killer is always caught, where there are explanations and none of the ambiguities of real life. These books are an escape, a trip to a different time, a different world where all mysteries have answers.

Raza Mir’s Murder in the Mushaira (2021) is one such delightful read.  Set against the backdrop of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, celebrated Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib turns investigator.  There is no denying Raza Mir’s expertise on Ghalib or his research on the period. However, the book is not weighed down by this scholarship. It benefits from it, intricately merging history, poetry and mystery.  The prose doesn’t rush ahead, with the basic formula of clue, suspect, alibi and expose. Instead, it meanders and dances with poetic charm and humour.

Abir Mukerjee’s series set in 1920 Calcutta is another escape. It introduces dynamic duo Captain Wyndham and Sergeant Surendranath (Surrender-not) Banerjee. The series brings alive Raj Era Calcutta, the swadeshi movement simmering on one hand and the opulent Raj on the other. The books are fast paced adventures. The murders are gruesome and twists plentiful. The detectives — one British and other Indian have their own contradictions and flaws but are essentially good and decent. A Rising Man (2016), first in the series, won prizes for best historical crime novel (The New York Times and Financial Times). Shadows of Men (2021) is the fifth and latest in the series.

Harini Nagendra also takes you to 1920s but in Bangalore. Bookish and Sherlock-loving bride Kaveri and her doctor husband Ramu debut in the Bangalore Detective Club (2022). The book nearly pivots into a romantic fairy tale with plucky heroine Kaveri doing everything- retrieving the murder weapon, providing the good inspector clues and fingerprinting tips. Sometimes the very charm of the genre can trip you up.  The women are too plucky, the men too progressive, the queers non-existent. Despite the allure of sights and sounds of old Bangalore, the remarkable broadmindedness of the lead characters jolts one out of the narrative. Worse still, it does a disservice to genuine progressive personalities of the time by imposing modern semi-progressive stances. The detective portions are patchy, but the world nostalgic and inviting. In the second outing, Murder under a Red Moon (published in 2023), the mystery is more engaging, characters and motivations are more complex.  The series is still a cosy read, with special ye olde Bangalore recipes at the end of each book.

For more intrepid female sleuths there is the Perveen Mistry series by Sujatha Massey. The Widows of Malabar Hills (2018) introduces Perveen Mistry, the first woman solicitor of Bombay. The series is intelligent, plots are realistic and characters lived in. For a whodunit, the books aren't snappy. They compensate with commentary on social norms, role of women, politics of the time, etc. While this works well, by the fourth and latest outing, The Mistress of Bhatia House (2023), there is too much going on plot wise and in the complexity of issues making it a tad preachy. However, the series is still engaging, capturing charming old Bombay, colonial lifestyle and social niceties accurately while giving us a protagonist who challenges norms realistically.

Bombay is a special favourite in this genre. Along with Sujatha Massey, authors Nev Merchant and Vaseem Khan also use British-era Bombay as their backdrop. Nev Merchant's Murder in Old Bombay (2020) is based on real-life unexplained deaths, in which two women flung themselves off a clock tower in the middle of Bombay. Award-winning Vaseem Khan writes both contemporary (Baby Ganesha series) and historical detective fiction (the Malabar House series) based in Bombay.

Foreign authors like  HRF Keating (Inspector Ghote series) and, later, Taraquin Hall entered this market early with Indian who-dun-its, though not necessarily historical. HRF Keating is famous for never having set foot in India. The Indian pioneer is, probably, Madhulika Liddle writing historical fiction since 2007 with over four books featuring Mughal Detective Muzzahar Jang and many short stories. Her writing shows a deep love for history. Many of these books are first published with international publishing houses, though they have become best-selling favourites in India as well.  The Indian Historical Detective has certainly come of age and is here to stay.

These novels are gateways to the past, offering a captivating blend of mystery, history, societal exploration. Through the lens of these detectives, the past goes from being a static relic to a dynamic, vibrant period with reverberations in our present.