Book Review: Murder at the Mushaira by Raza Mir

 

Book: Murder at the Mushaira 

Author: Raza Mir 

Publisher: Aleph Books 

Pages: 358 

Read on: Kindle 

Read in: ~5 hours 

Plot Summary: 3 May 1857. India stands on the brink of war. Everywhere in its cities, towns, and villages, rebels and revolutionaries are massing to overthrow the ruthless and corrupt British East India Company which has taken over the country and laid it to waste. In Delhi, the capital, even as the plot to get rid of the hated foreigners gathers intensity, the busy social life of the city hums along. Nautch girls entertain clients, nawabs host mushairas or poetry soirees in which the finest poets of the realm congregate to recite their latest verse and intrigue, the wealthy roister in magnificent havelis, and the drinking dens of the city continue to pack in customers. 

One morning, Kallu, a retainer at a Delhi haveli, cleaning up after a grand mushaira, discovers a poet stabbed to death with a polished agate dagger. Gruesome as it is, the murder appears to be a fairly run of the mill crime until anxious officials of the East India Company make it a matter of the highest priority. Instructions are issued for the murderer to be found and arrested immediately. But who is the killer? 

The dead man had many enemies and the investigating officer Kiromal Chainsukh soon discovers there are dozens of suspects, an equal number of motives, and waves of secrets and lies that threaten to overwhelm him. As the pressure on him to solve the crime increases, Chainsukh turns to Mirza Ghalib, poet laureate and amateur detective, for help. 

Ghalib’s tools are his formidable intelligence, intimate knowledge of the machinations of Delhi high society, ferocious curiosity, and reliance on the new science of forensics that his friend the scientist Master Ramachandra has introduced him to. As Ghalib begins to collect evidence and dig into the case, he uncovers an ever-widening list of suspects, and a sinister conspiracy that involves many of Delhi’s most important men and women.

Set against the backdrop of India’s First War of Independence, Murder at the Mushaira is at once a brilliantly constructed murder mystery and the finest historical novel by an Indian author in recent times.

Things I Liked: 

1. A historical crime fiction featuring Mirza Ghalib as the detective! What is not to love about this premise!?! I have been waiting to read this book ever since it released but it was so insanely expensive! I'll be honest, when the premise is a bit way out there, such as it was in this case, it does generate interest but also a fair amount of skepticism. Is the author going to be able to pull this off? Will it be more historical fiction (a genre I love) but a badly botched up murder mystery? All kinds of questions played in my mind when I saw the Rs. 700 hardcover. So, I put off buying the book. However, this weekend, the ebook version of this book was on sale for Rs. 129 and I immediately ordered it and started reading. So, the moral of this long winded story is that if you've been eyeing this book and the price tag has been holding you back, you can go buy it now. Read the review and go buy it :) 

2. So, where was I?! Right, I liked the premise from almost the get go and my two major fears- will this book have a balance between historical and crime fiction and if these two things, set against the backdrop of India's First War of Independence, even work? I am happy to report, dear reader, that the author does a fantastic job of maintaining the balance between historical and crime fiction and even the murder set against the backdrop of the events of 1857 in Delhi has been worked brilliantly into the plot. Oh! Also, Ghalib as a detective, incredulous though it may sound, somehow works! 

3. The story brilliantly weaves three major sub-plots- the murder mystery, the rebels planning the attack on British troops in Delhi and the life of Mirza Ghalib and a few other key characters. We get to see each of these sub-plots at just the right level of detail for the narrative to remain fast-paced and engaging. 

4. There are various interesting, likeable characters in this book. Starting with our amateur sleuth- the poet laureate- Mirza Ghalib. We get to see snippets of his domestic life, his stubborn integrity, his stepping up to take on a risky responsibility and his general cheekiness. All of this is such a joy to read and the book is peppered with some known (to the casual listener of ghazals and Urdu poetry) and unknown verses by the great poet. Apart from Ghalib, we also get to know his "forensic" guy- Professor Ramchandra Mathur, his student- Zainab, the brave Hyderi Begum and Sarfaraz Laskar- the person on whose information the fate of the war for Delhi hinges on. Each of them is well crafted and in the 358 pages of this book, you get to know enough of them to form a connect with each of them. 

5. The book is extremely well researched. As a student of history, I really appreciated the effort taken by the author to bring the era of 1857 alive from a socio-political and cultural perspective. We get to see the lives of the ordinary people of old Delhi, of the soldiers serving in East India Company's militia, of peasants and that of the cognoscenti of the city. The author also does a stellar job of bringing the mushairas circuit to life. This book is an immersive reading experience and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the world of this book fully aware of the outcome of the War of 1857. 

6. Coming to the murder mystery aspect of the book. The killer is not obvious, the motive is sort of clear, but then that's not meant to be a secret. The how and the why are unveiled slowly and at the ~68% mark of the book. If you were expecting a nail-biting finish to this book with a 'here's what happened' type of wrap-up at the end of the book, then you'll be disappointed. There is more to this book than just the murder mystery, which is at the centre of the plot, but there are other interesting sub-plots that are as interesting, so it is worth sticking to the book even after the identity of the killer is revealed. 

Rating: 4.5/5 

Highly, highly recommend this stellar book!