Raza Mir
ALEPH BOOK COMPANY
The last Mughal emperor’s poet laureate, Mirza Ghalib, using his grey cells like Hercule Poirot should be enough to conclusively recommend Murder at the Mushaira. Raza Mir has, in this engaging historical crime novel, hit the right note by capturing Ghalib’s eccentricity and channelising it towards Sherlockian mystery-solving. As with all great dramas, there is intrigue—the victim is a fellow (if lesser) poet who also spies for the British East India Company. Set in the week leading up to the 1857 war of Independence in Delhi, Ghalib has to race against time in order to help the rebellion against a harsh and villainous capitalist entity that has slowly seized power from a dissolute Mughal dynasty busy with wine and poetry—the very essentials, ironically, of Ghalib’s existence. The novel, barring minor hiccups, is well-written and comes with an emotionally overwhelming ending.
The murder happens after a mushaira at the haveli of Nawab Iftikhar Hasan, a profligate nobleman. The victim, discovered the next morning, is Sukhan Khairabadi, a generally disliked fellow whose wife, Faizunnisa Khatoon, entertains half of Shahjahanabad. Roshan Ara Begum’s daughter Syeda Zainab and the latter’s friend, Hyderi Begum Zutshi, a painter of Mughal miniatures, provide two sets of romantic intrigue.
This story is from the March 22, 2021 edition of India Today.
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This story is from the March 22, 2021 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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