Author Ruby Gupta’s latest crime thriller No Illusions in Xanadu was released in the morning session of the Valley of Words—hailed at the session as Dehradun’s answer to Agatha Christie. The story is set in Mumbai where a devilishly handsome Bollywood superstar Rajvir Kapoor is found dead on the 30th floor of Xanadu—his plush home.
The news leaves everyone stunned. Hours earlier, the high-rise home had been bursting at the seams with the elite: celebrities, business tycoons, close friends, associates and family of the iconic actor. All of them were there for a party—the best the metropolis had seen. Cursory investigations show that the actor has been murdered. But by who? In this whodunit, everyone is a suspect, very reminiscent of a Hercule Poirot mystery.
Along comes a nano-expert and part-time detective Professor Shantanu Bose, a house guest, who perforce joins the investigation. Surrounded by the flotsam of the upper crust, he sets about searching for the culprit. He struggles to sieve fact from fiction. Add to this the fatal attraction he seems to have to the prime suspect.
Where are we going to go from here? But no romance and amorous nights blossom. “This was a crime fiction book. I had a tale to tell. And that is exactly what I have done,” says the author. Also, commenting on the lack of humour in the book, she says, “This is a story about a murder and that, let me assure you is no laughing matter!’
No Illusions In Xanadu
By: Ruby Gupta
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 224
Price: `319