A murder mystery set in post-colonial India probes the country’s role in World War II and chaperones readers through the mores of Bombay as it was back then
Leopold Cafe on Colaba Causeway. Pics/Getty Images
What are the seasonings of a well-told murder story? If true crime buffs — with an instinct for recounting — compiled a list of salts to riveting misdeeds, they’d still fall short of herbs known to Vaseem Khan. These are secret herbs; some are found in the Himalayan foothills, some in Khan’s sagacious application of history and others in an almost-there relationship between inspectors and criminalists. Our preferred kind includes Akbar, a tomcat that lazily skirts the mystery. The Lost Man of Bombay (Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd), Khan’s third edition in the Malabar House series, seeks the identity of a disfigured European man. The tale kicks off with two expeditionists finding his body near Tsangchokla Pass, Ladakh. The year is 1950. A pocketbook with a stamp of Bombay Press, 1943 directs the dead man’s itinerary back to Mumbai (then Bombay). But more than anything, the gnomic line in the diary: “Caesar’s Triumph holds the key,” puzzles the protagonist, Inspector Persis Wadia the most.
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Mahalaxmi Race Course
The joy of fact-finding rouses us from the very first chapter. But it regulates its pace. The author patiently sketches his characters in light of a specific time in the country’s socio-economic milieu. Inspector Wadia, the first female cop to have qualified for the Indian Police Service, finds herself in Malabar House because there’s no other place to put her. Her placement in the runt of the city’s constabulary explains her dogged determination but certainly not her worth. About the thoughts behind developing his protagonist, Khan reveals, “Apart from Wadia, the plot also features metropolitan police criminalist Archie Blackfinch, who has come from England to work with the Bombay Police Service. They represent the changing relationship between India and England as the Raj ended. Things are complicated by a possible romance, and by Persis’ ruthless ambition. But why shouldn’t she be ruthless? She is a proud Indian, a woman in a male environment, and a talented cop. Pursuing justice is her only mission.”
Vaseem Khan
The story traverses familiar city precincts from St Pius X College, Ballard Estate and Flora Fountain or Hutatma Chowk to Arthur Road Jail and Leopold Cafe. There’s something about viewing a city you’re still warming up to through another’s eyes. Is this where Khan sought luck and love? He says that being able to connect the murder to a truth enshrouded in Indian history amplifies the twists in the narrative. In relation to that, the writer elaborates on the city: “This was a great way to show my affection for a country that I lived in for 10 years in my twenties — in Andheri in Mumbai. I miss the city and the way it welcomed me. Indians are the warmest people. I dearly miss my friends and the incredible feeling of discovering the million different sides to the city.”
Arthur Road Jail. Pic Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons
Khan admits that as a crime novelist, his main aim is to give readers an intriguing mystery and then use historical details to make it more than just a crime novel. “My process? I start with a murder and some fascinating historical facts and then see how I can fit them all into an engaging plot.” He adds that the years after Independence are rarely highlighted in novels. Those years, although grossly turbulent, comprised optimism and change as Indians took charge of their destiny after more than a century of British rule.
While we agree that the setting suits the enigma, we wish for more volumes in the series to look back to a Mumbai we weren’t privy to.
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Khan’s favourites
The winner of the Crime Writer’s Association Historical Dagger likes reading crime stories such as Michael Connelly’s Los Angeles-based Harry Bosch police novels and the Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke set in Louisiana.
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