“The Bangalore Detectives Club”

 

The Bangalore Detectives Club by Harini Nagendra (published 2022) is an amusing historic fiction. Set in the spring of 1921, during British rule of India, it features a group of doctors and their wives. The doctors work in a hospital in Bangalore, with both English and Indian men and women playing a role in a murder investigation. The central character is Kaveri Murthy, a nineteen-year-old woman who was just settling in as the wife of Dr. Rama Murthy. Kaveri has recently finished at a secondary school, and wishes for further education, especially in mathematics. She’s secretly studying for exams to be admitted to a further course of study, but she’s distracted by wanting to investigate a brutal murder that takes place in the garden of an exclusive club during a formal dinner for the medical staff of the hospital. 

Two themes predominate the course of the novel: one is the murder investigation, which involves policemen; underworld characters; several of the doctors, medical professionals, and their wives; various servants; and also cow herders — who live in the city with their cows so that they can go to wealthy homes each day and provide fresh milk direct from the cow herself. The second theme is the developing relationship between the two Murthys. Not only do they become engrossed in trying to find the dangerous murderer, they also develop their relationshipto each other, deeply trying to have a more egalitarian marriage than their parents and friends experienced. 

I enjoyed reading this novel, which includes several classic tropes of the mystery genre. First is the classic use of a closed group — the doctors and staff in the hospital plus their wives — who are all in some way involved with the fatal events. A number of other characters from different social classes, including a police detective and a woman who is being trafficked by a criminal organizer, provide interesting contrast to the lives of the doctors.

The second classic feature is the character of an amateur detective whose knowledge and interest are based on detectives in fiction — in this case, her favorites are Sherlock Holmes, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard created by Baroness Orczy, and supposedly Hercule Poirot, (I wondered about him since Agatha Christie’s first detective story, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in October, 1920, in the US and in January, 1921 in the UK). 

A third classic feature is the constant description of meals and food preparation, mainly concerning Kaveri, who is a novice in the kitchen. She often combines sleuthing with recipe requests to more experienced women cooks. The food in this novel is especially interesting to me because most of the dishes that are featured are completely unfamiliar. I don’t even recognize their names — though the author has included a few recipes at the back of the book. A few examples:

“A waiter silently glided up to them, a large silver platter in his hand. He held out a selection of vegetarian delicacies – grilled paneer, small cocktail samosas, bite-sized fried vadas, and pieces of chili cheese toast.” (p. 35)

“The dessert course was brought in – carrot halwa, glistening with slivers of almond, and garnished with flourishes of sweetened cream.” (p. 46)

“Indira brought in a plate of steaming fried ambades, which Uma aunty seized upon with delight. … Kaveri forced a smile and said sweetly, ‘These are delicious. I was just thinking that my husband, too, would love these. Are they very difficult to make?’ … ‘Not at all, my dear, they are very easy to make. I’ll write it down for you.’ … Over coffee later that day, Ramu heard of their visit to Indira’s home. He also tasted the fruits of the visit, in the form of ambade: crisp fried ovals of dough, made of kadalabele with curry leaves and green chillies. Indira’s recipe, written down and explained to Kaveri, was a success.” (p. 186-187) 

The most common
woodpecker in India is
the Black-rumped flameback
woodpecker. (Wikipedia)

Food is not the only exotic and fascinating area where the author familiarizes the reader with the atmosphere of India in 1920. I was interested, for example, in the mentions of various species of birds that are seen or heard by the characters in the book: crows, the black kite (a bird of prey), egrets, lapwings, a woodpecker… I wonder if you can still see them in Indian urban areas today. I’m thinking of the blog Cranium Bolts where the birder Shiju Sugunan posts fabulous photos of birds in Bangalore.

In discussion of a murder mystery, the key questions are: Is it well-plotted? Does it create suspense? Is it decently plausible? Does it hold your interest? Are the characters believable? 

My answer to all these questions for this book is YES. There’s a strong plot. Circumstances demand careful thought and courage of the amateur detective Kaveri. The minor characters are interesting and well portrayed as well as the major ones. The atmosphere of 1920 India, including the relationships of British rulers to Indian citizens, and the background of politics throughout the story. 

That said — I have absolutely no idea about historical accuracy!

In sum: I enjoyed reading The Bangalore Detectives Club. If you like mysteries set in far-away times and places, you will probably enjoy it. Quite a few reviews of this book mention the mystery author Sujata Massey and her character Perveen Mistry — the only female lawyer in Bombay in 1921. I definitely see the similarity in the work of the two authors! 

The red-wattled lapwing from India (Wikipedia).

Review © mae sander 2024