Queens without crowns

Well researched, this book is a tribute to the women who have made significant inroads into Mumbai's criminal underbelly.

Mafia Queens of Mumbai 
Stories of Women from
the Ganglands
S.Hussain Zaidi, Jane Borges
Tranquebar Press
Rs 250; Pp 308
ISBN 9789380283777
Paperback

It couldn't get feistier than this you think on reading the title and immediately conjure up images of gorgeous molls lolling on the arms of cigar-puffing villains sporting mismatched shoes. But Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of Women from the Ganglands is nothing like what you'd expect. A cool clinical tribute to the women who made significant inroads into the infamous arena of Mumbai's criminal underbelly, the extensively researched work of journalists S. Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges, besides enlightening one on the ways of lady gangsters, informs, enthrals and very frequently chills the reader down to his bone-marrow.

No stereotypes
There are no stereotypes in the world of crime, it is established at the every onset, and not every woman criminal is pushed into crime by unfortunate circumstances (as generally depicted in movies and literature). Some women are born to crime, some others chase it relentlessly and yet some others have crime thrust on them. And then there are those others who choose to channel their genius towards darker goals for the sheer adrenalin rush it entails. Thus we have the imperturbable Lallan Bhabhi, a cog in the petrol adulteration cartel, Sapna Didi, a rare woman who had the guts to stand up to Dawood Ibrahim, liquor queen Jenabai Daaruwali and the iconic brothel madam, Gangubai Kathiawadi. A rare touch given by the authors is the perennial riches-to-rags possibility hovering over each head and which seems to deter not a single of these women. As Zaidi and Borges lead one down the dark dinghy alleys of Dongri, Bhendi Bazaar, Nagpada, Dharavi and Mumbra, it becomes difficult to forget characters like the dainty bereaved Ashraf who turns into a gun-toting avenger, the charismatic Gangubai who lights up the streets of Kamathipura with a rare dignity or the bootlegging aunties. There is no attempt to romanticise the real-life stories or add unnecessary embroidery for added texture. Consequently, there is an element of starkness, a bleakness of approach that is very brave, yet strangely unsettling for the reader. One wishes the authors had added further dimensions by a deeper exploration of the complexities within each character. Some of the motives and choices made by the protagonists remain fuzzy and perplexing to the very end.

Books on crooks

If you’re looking for the latest crime fiction from around the globe, the finest resource is Gangarams Book Bureau— apparently about to relocate soon to St Mark’s Road, Bangalore above Koshy’s café (optimal!)

One of the best things about Bangalore’s cantonment is how it has become a treasure trove for bibliophiles. With a little detective work in the bookshops here, one can build oneself a respectable and wide-ranging crime fiction library.

Thankfully, several venerable old bookshops have survived in this era of Internet book-shopping, even if others, like the legendary Premier, my main supplier for many years, shut shop some time ago. But for a nostalgic moment, you can still browse best-selling thrillers at the Raj-era Higginbotham’s (a chain founded in south India in the 1800s and once upon a time “official booksellers to His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales”). Or go to Crossword (one of the finest shops in that chain) if you prefer a more contemporary scene with easy chairs to sit and test-read in.

If you’re looking for the latest crime fiction from around the globe, the finest resource is Gangarams Book Bureau— apparently about to relocate soon to St Mark’s Road above Koshy’s café (optimal!). I’ve picked up translated detective novels here that I haven’t spotted anywhere else, such as the weird Swedish toy-animal gumshoe adventure Amberville by Tim Davys. The current best crime novel, if you are a genre aficionado, is The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino—a rage in Japan, it reinvents the old puzzle mystery with aplomb, turning misdirection into a beautiful art.

Full report here Mint 

How to write a crime masterpiece

Sacred Games is a labour of love, or perhaps hate; a reaction to the scraps that Chandra’s relatives in Bollywood have got into with the Mumbai underworld

Perhaps the greatest crime novels of the 21st century will be written by Indians. “Great” is certainly an accurate description of the 900-page Sacred Games, a masterpiece of early 21st century literature.

Let’s take a closer look at how Vikram Chandra wrote his manifold narrative, so impeccably woven around two antagonists—a slightly corrupt police inspector and a don with a karmic bend—who, with elegant plot symmetry, mirror one another and are inextricably linked in a web of brutality, but also love.

Sacred Games is a labour of love, or perhaps hate; a reaction to the scraps that Chandra’s relatives in Bollywood have got into with the Mumbai underworld. They were targeted by extortionists and even shot at. As a writer, Chandra, an aficionado of crime fiction, takes pleasure in utilizing the genre’s tropes.

Full report here Mint

Mystery of the missing Jasoos

It all began with Holmes of course. Though Poe's Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) can claim to have created the first detective in fiction, and Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868) is regarded as the first modern detective novel, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes thrilled readers like no other. Agatha Christie's Poirot and Jane Marple, and PD James' Adam Dalgliesh followed the trail. Many decades later, these and a handful of other foreign classics — continue to fill the crime fiction racks here. No desi wannabe of The Great Detectives Club has ever managed to get a foot in the door.

It's not for want of trying. In the last couple of years, the genre of Indian crime fiction in English has seen many new titles. From Lalli of Kalpana Swaminathan's Page 3 Murders, additional sessions judge Harish Shinde in Aditya Sudharshan's A Nice Quiet Holiday and ACP Nikhil Juneja in Reeti Gadekar's Families at Home, to Shashi Warrier's Anna Khan in Sniper, the Indian jasoos is begging for a break. Ravi Singh, Penguin India editor-in-chief, says, "Compared to the near drought in previous years, there are now more crime and thriller writers, but the number is still small. And very few of them sell good numbers. Kalpana and Mukul Deva have been the notable successes in recent years."

Full report here Times of India

What is it about swedes and crime fiction?

A macabre Swedish export has gained popularity over the last few years: crime fiction. It is a phenomenon the whole world is talking about.

Author Håkan Nesser was surprised to learn that he had desi readers. He was scheduled to fly here for the Swedish embassy’s Crime Fiction Week (April 19-25), but his plans were scuppered by the infamous volcanic ash cloud.

That did not stop Nesser from sharing his views by email, on what makes writers from his small nation of 10 million dabble with such gruesome enthusiasm in this literary genre. “It’s because we have so many readers,” he says simply. He attributes the worldwide interest to market hype generated since the 1990s, when “the Germans started to love us”.

Full report here Business Standard

Murder most mysterious

Feluda, a young detective, sharp-witted and observant, was created by Satyajit Ray the Bengali film maker. Ray loved writing and making films for children and wrote the Feluda stories too. The relationship between Feluda and Topshe is sure to remind you of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Topshe learns a lot just by being around Feluda, and Feluda bounces ideas and observations off Topshe to trigger a chain of logical thinking.

When Feluda, “Jatayu” ( Lalmohan Babu) and Topshe discover the body of a man when they go on holiday to Puri, things begin to look a little suspicious. They had just heard about the death of the famous wildlife photographer … but it seems like there is no connection between the two. Then there are some strange crooked footsteps they notice on the beach leading away from the dead man.

Following them, they enter a mysterious and dilapidated old house, which belongs to a D.G. Sen, who is passionate about palm-leaf manuscripts, which he considers works of art. He is also obviously very attached to them for he will not sell them, even at a very high price. On their way back from the house they meet a photographer on the beach.

Full report here Hindu

Joaquin Phoenix to play Edgar Allen Poe

Joaquin Phoenix is set to make a comeback to acting to play iconic American writer and poet Edgar Allen Poe.

The actor had decided to quit acting to launch his rap career. He has only been seen in a string of bizarre TV interviews of late.

"I couldn't be happier because I am doing a period film. It is a very special challenge because I have to recreate the sound textures of New York in 1854," the Daily Star quoted Oscar winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty, as telling India's Mumbai Mirror.

He added: "It's an adaptation of The Beautiful Cigar Girl by Daniel Stashower and based on an eerie real-life experience of author Edgar Allan Poe which happened just months before his death. Joaquin plays Edgar Allen Poe."


Full report here DNA