Dead in Mumbai minute by Madhumita Bhattacharyya

"Dead in Mumbai minute" by Madhumita Bhattacharyya. This book is published by Pan Macmillan India in 2014 and has 320 pages.

This is second book of Reema Ray mystery series (but first one I read). Reema has accepted Shyek Gupta's job offer and joined Titanium securities in Mumbai. A murder takes place on a private island owned by Bollywood queen Kimaaya Kapoor. Shayek entrusts the investigation to Reema.

Can Reema crack the case? Who is the murderer? Is there another murder? Is there more than what meets the eyes?

It's a murder mystery with lady detective as protagonist. I expected it to contain analytics, emotions, brilliance and courage in equal parts. This story falls short on above and the real detective work.

Everyone has his own favorite activity that stimulates ones thinking and analysis. Reema finds this stimulus in cooking. The electrifying chemistry between her and her boss Shayak is shown very well. mysterious, aloof and reclusive character of Shayek is also interesting.

It is evident that these murders are not the real game but just the surface of a bigger plot. However Madhumita has chosen to only scratch the surface in this book and leave the real plot for next one. That's disappointing.

Author has spent a lot of page space narrating the settling of Reema in Mumbai after relocating from Kolkata. It wasn't really necessary. The narration lacks focus. It appears that the entire book is a preamble for the next one.

Give it a miss.

Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan

"Wanting Mor" by Rukhsana Khan. This book is published by Duckbill in March 2013 and has 206 pages. Rukhsana Khan is a well known Pakistani-Canadian writer.

This is the story, set in 2001 Afghanistan,
after US invasion, of a little girl Jameela who stays with her father (Baba) & Mother (Mor) in rural Afghanistan. Jameela has a cleft lip. Her mother dies. Father brings her to Kabul and marries a widow. Step mother doesn't like her. One day her father takes her to market place asks her to wait and disappears for good.

What will Jameela do? Where will she go? Will she remain safe? Who will take care of her? Will she ever meet her father?

Author states that this story is inspired from a real life story. Probably that's why the author has preferred to keep it factual and realistic. She has resisted the temptation of dramatizing the story.

Jameela misses her Mor. She follows her teachings. She searches her Mor in the ladies she meets. Author ends the story with Jameela becoming Mor to an orphan girl.

The story highlights goodness of Jameela but also demonstrates that though she is good she is not a saint. She too has feelings of love, hate, sympathy and even mild revenge. Unfortunately character of Jameela's father, though very important, remains under developed.

A number of things could happen to a young girl abandoned by her parents. This story takes her to the good orphanage. Her safety and security is thus assured and the focus remains on main story.

Narration is decent. It's a brisk story consequently the novel is also not lengthy. Afghan background provides exoticism to story.

Read it for a change.

Compass box killer by Piyush Jha

"Compass box killer" by Piyush Jha. This book is published by Rupa publications India in 2013 and has 240 pages.

A police inspector, a doctor and a child welfare social worker are murdered. Each one is murdered in a different way and methods indicate that the murderer is highly intelligent and skilled. A compass box is found after each murder indicating the identity of next victim. Inspector Virkar is assigned the high profile case.

Can Virkar solve the case? Will he be removed from the case? Who is Raashi Hunterwal? Why does the murderer leave compass box? Are these murders related? What is the common thread? Will the murderer be apprehended?

This is a classic murder mystery. Readers meet Inspector Virkar again after the novella 'Injectionwala' from authors first book 'Mumbaistan'. Virkar is an interesting character. He stands for rightfulness and firmly believes that guilty should be punished. He does not mind taking unconventional measures or breaking rules to get to his goals. He is intelligent, fit & smart and likes to drink rare Godfather beer. He is also human.

The story is interesting. Pace is uniform. Narration is not dramatic. Author has used a number of Hindi proverbs like 'Dimag ka dahi' in the book giving it typical Mumbai touch.

This is the second time (that's two out of two so far) Inspector Virkar sympathizes with the killer but finds him.

Read if you like mysteries.

Raja Ravi Varma by Ranjit Desai

"Raja Ravi Varma" by Ranjit Desai, translated from Marathi to English by Vikrant Pande. This book is published by Harper Perennial in 2013 and has 320 pages.

Raja Ravi Varma is the most famous Indian painter. He is said to have revolutionilized painting from traditional Kangra and Mughal styles. This book is a biographical fiction on Raja Ravi Varma.

The book starts from his childhood in Kilimanoor when his maternal uncle discovers his talent, traces his life as upcoming painter to good painter to established painter to a phenomenon and into his old age.

Raja Ravi Varma is mainly known for his pauranik (पौराणिक) paintings and royal portraits. He was ably assisted by his brothers, friends, models and disciples and was guided by Majaraj of Travankore and Diwan Madhavrao.

The book takes us through his relations and relationships with a number of female models like Kamini, Sugandha, Kamla, Anjanabai and student Frena. Author credits a lot of his portraits to his model & muse Sugandha, a Marathi lady. Their relationship is portrayed beautifully. The selflessness of Sugandha and her willingness to sacrifice everything, including her life, touches hearts of readers. It is not known if Sugandha really existed and if she did whether she was only a model or muse of Ravi Varma.

Raja Ravi Varma's defense argument at the vulgarity trial about right to artistic freedom is a masterpiece. His intellect, dedication and humility stump the readers. He was not only a painter but also a dancer and had studied Vedas (वेद). His meetings with famous personalities like Gopalkrishna Gokhale, Swami Vivekanand and Dadabhai Naoroji are also interesting.

Today's generation knows Raja Ravi Varma as India's answer to Van Gogh. Very little is known about Ravi Varma, the person. This book brings forth the human within the artist. It introduces us to the multi faceted personality.

Ranjeet Desai has managed to make the biography interesting. The credit goes to author and the personality of Raja Ravi Varma. Credit also goes to translator who has done a good job.

A must read for every Indian.

The Puppeteer by Arindam Mukherjee

"The Puppeteer" by Arindam Mukherjee. This book is published by Grapevine India in 2013 and has 254 pages.

President of Pakistan has agreed to acknowledge the line of control in Kashmir as international border. This is a big victory for India. Lasting peace seems to be a real possibility. But Pakistani multimillionaire business tycoon and pro Islamist Aamir Ben Kalish is livid. He doesn't like the stance of the President who also happens to be his personal friend. He summons his second in command Zuair and his son Omar to assassinate the President while on tour of India.

Can his plan come to fruition? Can his team infiltrate India? Can they find agents to assassinate the president? Will they succeed? Can Indian intelligence stop them?

This is Arindam's first fiction novel. He has put up a credible effort. The seed is imaginative. Execution is also good. He has managed to churn a decent story. Characterization, though, needed more efforts.

A large portion of the book is spent on elaborating first the reason and then the perpetration for the plot. The Indian intelligence does not get the whiff of the assassination plot until two third of the book is over. This means that the tantalizing cat and mouse game gets limited page space.

It also appears that the Pakistanis had not done their home work thoroughly and they improvise the plot as it develops. Such plots usually do not succeed. Side story of Mafizul and his lust for Salima appears weak.

Author has introduced a special twist in the tale in the epilogue. I don't know why he waited till epilogue for reveling the twist.

OK book. Read if you have time.

Memory Man by David Baldacci

"Memory Man" by David Baldacci. This book is published by Pan McMillan India in 2015 and has 352 pages.

Amis Decker's (a detective) life is devastated one day when he finds his brother-in-law, wife and daughter killed brutally. He looses his house, job, life and starts living life of a homeless private investigator. One fine day a person walks in police station and confesses murders of his family. There is a shooting in local school on same day.

Amis has hyperthymesia. Hyperthymesia is the condition of possessing an extremely detailed autobiographical memory. Such a person can recall almost every day of his life in near perfect detail.

Will Amis avenge the killings? Is confessor the murderer? Are the two incidents related? Will he go back to normal life, ever? Can he solve this?

The book is nicely paced. Hyperthymesia, a very rare disorder, makes the book interesting. It's good to see that the protagonist, though having hyperthymesia, is tall, fat and overweight person and has characteristics of a common man. David is a master story teller and he does not disappoint. Characterization is unusual.

The book starts with triple murder but then the mystery thickens with school shooting, another murder, another one and then a double murder. However when the mystery is unraveled and the reason behind murders becomes clear, one can not help but think 'is that possible?'

Book ends with definite seeds of a sequel.

Read it for a change.

Asmita (अस्मिता) by Suryakant Jadhav (सूर्यकांत जाधव)

"Asmita (अस्मिता)" a Marathi (मराठी) book by Suryakant Jadhav (सूर्यकांत जाधव). This book is published by  Mehta Publishing House in 2011 and has 278 pages. I read the book through Grantha Tumchya Dari (ग्रंथ तुमच्या दारी) scheme of Kusumagraj Pratishthan (कुसुमाग्रज प्रतिष्ठान).

This is the story of Inspector Sanjay Patil's (संजय पाटील) search of a young girl Asmita (अस्मिता), who has gone missing. A mysterious Guru called Gurumani (गुरूमणी) offers his help to Sanjay to find Asmita. They are fighting against a gang, a MP and Sarpraj maharaj (सर्पराज महाराज).

Will Sanjay take help? Or will he take the evidence and clue route? Does he believe in such powers? Do such powers exist? Can he find Asmita alive?

This book explores the world of esoteric, unnatural (अघोरी) powers, black magic, spells etc in the modern world. A number of readers will give it a miss only because of above. Fight between good powers and bad powers (सुष्ट व दुष्ट) is an eternal battle that has been presented and written about for years in various forms & in all civilizations.

Narration is semi interesting. Story is decently paced. You do not get bored. It covers the land mafia, construction mafia, fishing mafia, corruption, black magic, police, politicians and much more.

I thought that the author had tried to rope in too many things in the book. Initially the focus is on land mafia, then it moves to Sarpraj maharaj, then to human sacrifice to fishers to land mafia again. In order to cover everything he is all over the place. Defeat of Sarpraj majaraj is a classic anti climax. The story drags unnecessarily after that, should have been rapped up quickly. It's a violent story with more than a dozen deaths.

Book cover is not attractive but it's apt for the subject. However it may repel a few readers.

Read it if you don't mind the subject, otherwise give it a miss.

A most wanted man by John Le Carre

"A most wanted man" by John Le Carre. This book is published by Pocket books in 2010 and has 491 pages.

International intelligence community (German, British, American) targets a mysterious Chechen, a suspected terrorist, who appears out of nowhere, in Hamburg. This man Issa Karpov has inherited ill gotten wealth of his father but he doesn't want it.

Will he be arrested? Will he accept his inheritance? Will his lawyer, Annabel, and his banker, Tommy, help? Is Issa a terrorist? Who will win?

The book explains the international money laundering for espionage, in this case through Lipizena accounts. Lipizena Is a breed of horse that is black at birth and becomes completely white, gradually, as it grows up.

The story is slow. The narration is interesting in patches. For a long time reader does not understand where exactly is the story going. The climax, though realistic in today's world, appears incomplete.

Characterization is a bit confusing. It is not clear why Annabel is  attracted towards Issa and why Tony is attracted towards Annabel. Why the veteran devil Gunther becomes a lamb at the end. Why Americans trump Germans in their own country?

It would have been easy to abandon reading the book. I completed it because it was good in patches. Idea of using 'Lipizena' for special kind of accounts was brilliant.

Give it a miss.