Murder at the Mushaira by Raza Mir - PEBC Book of the Month (July 2024)

Set against the backdrop of India's First War of Independence in 1857, Murder at the Mushaira is a historical murder mystery that unfolds in Delhi. Amidst rising tensions against the British East India Company, the social life of Delhi's elite continues unabated. After a poet is found murdered with a rare dagger, investigator Kiromal Chainsukh is pressured to solve the case. He enlists the help of Mirza Ghalib, poet and amateur detective, who uses his intelligence and forensic science to uncover a web of secrets and a conspiracy involving Delhi's most influential figures.

Here is what the chooser of BOTM June 2024 Diljeet Singh Narwal had to say about it:

Hello to all the मीठे Pineapples and कड़वी Elaichis!

I have been entrusted by the King Elaichi and Queen Pineapple to pick this month's 'Book of the Year', and I must say that alone must be grounds for their impeachment. लेकिन दोनों dictators हैं, so उनका वचन ही है शासन!

Long story long, after careful deliberation with some Gen-Z adults (Pandit Bahmba and Associates), I have decided to continue with the sci-fi centric books that our community loves and selected "Murder at the Mushaira" by the Hugo and Nebula Awards winner Raza Mir.

Book's Premise:

The date is Adityuary 3 and the year is 2157 (मंगल मंगल playing in the background). The world stands on the brink of chaos. Everywhere in its cities, space colonies, and underwater metropolises, rebels and revolutionaries are massing to overthrow the ruthless and corrupt Damodar Corporation of Patels (DCP) which has taken over the planet and laid it to waste. In Jio-Pyune, the global capital, even as the plot to get rid of the hated corporate overlords gathers intensity, the busy social life of the city hums along. Cyborg entertainers thrill clients; tech moguls host मुशायरे in which the finest rappers of the realm congregate to recite their latest verses and intrigue; the wealthy revel in magnificent sky havens, and the neon-lit libraries of the city continue to pack in customers looking for hardcore drugs.

One morning, Thala कात्रे-7, a maintenance bot at a Jio-Pyune penthouse, cleaning up after a grand मुशायरा, discovers a Tulu rapper hacked to death with a laser-edged katana. Gruesome as it is, the murder appears to be a fairly run-of-the-mill crime until anxious officials of the DCP make it a matter of the highest priority. Instructions are issued for the murderer to be found and apprehended immediately.

But who is the killer? The dead rapper had many enemies and the investigating officer, Agent Rhea Chatterjee, soon discovers there are dozens of suspects, an equal number of motives, and waves of secrets and lies that threaten to overwhelm her. As the pressure on her to solve the crime increases, Rhea turns to Nandu Narwal, a legendary secret agent and not-so-amateur detective, for help.

Nandu’s tools are his well-researched PPTs, formidable intelligence, intimate knowledge of the machinations of high-tech society, ferocious curiosity, and reliance on the new science of cyber-forensics that his ally, the scientist Dr. Mohandas, has introduced him to. As Nandu 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 Jio-Pyune's most important cyborgs and humans.

Set against the backdrop of Earth's impending rebellion, "Murder at the Mushaira" is at once a brilliantly constructed murder mystery and the finest futuristic novel by an Earth-born author in recent times.