She sleuths to conquer
Not many murder mysteries involve an element of time travel. Harini Nagendra’s first novel offers a mystery, bits of history, even a couple of heirloom recipes. The Ban
galore Detectives Club (Hachette; May 2022), the first in a proposed series, is set in the Bangalore of a century ago.
“I wanted to write a character- driven mystery, where understanding of psychology, personality and setting dominated over technological solutions, and where old-fashioned detective skills could be showcased,” Nagendra said. So she set her series in the 1920s, a time when the science of fingerprinting was still being refined.
At the heart of the book is Kaveri Murthy, a 19-year-old homemaker who lives with her husband Ramu Murthy, a doctor, and his family.
Kaveri Murthy is a kind but independent soul who goes swimming in a sari, disregards caste norms, studies in secret (her mother-in-law disapproves of her interest in maths). Around her, the fight for an Independent India is heating up. Society is changing; women graduating. Murthy’s mind is fired by these ideas.
Then, at a dinner party hosted at a members-only club, she stumbles upon the body of a local pimp who has been murdered in one of the gardens. When she finds that a vulnerable woman is being tagged for the crime, Murthy becomes determined to exonerate her and find the real killer.
Author Harini Nagendra, 50, is director of the Research Center at Azim Premji University, and leads the university’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability. This is her fourth book; the other three were works of non-fiction.
When she turned to fiction, she says, she decided to tell a woman-centric story. “The book is not just about a single woman; it’s also about the sisterhood of women, the communities they form and the ways in which they support each other. That has always fascinated me,” Nagendra said.
There are even some heirloom recipes thrown in. A dry dish called beans palya is Murthy’s go-to recipe when she’s working on a mystery or a maths problem and is rushed for time. Her bisi bele hulianna (spiced rice with lentils) is a hit with doctors and their families when they come over for lunch.
The real challenge, Nagendra says, was drawing on research and her imagination to bring the Bangalore of this era to life. “I looked at old photographs, read old letters and autobiographical accounts; studied old maps,” she said.
Her research revealed some interesting details. Lal Bagh, Bengaluru’s botanical gardens, for instance, housed an active zoo at the time. “I found a story in the archives that described a litter of tiger cubs that were being suckled by a stray dog. I incorporated this into my book, because it was too fascinating not to,” she said.
Some parts were more difficult than others to recreate in the imagination. One such was the Bowring hospital where Ramu Murthy works. “What went on inside a British hospital that catered to a mixed population? I had to piece together bits and pieces from information in archives,” Murthy said, “but of course I still can’t be sure.”