It is May 3, 1857, in the capital city of Delhi. The British East India Company has taken over the country, and the First War of Indian Independence is about to unfold. Author Raza Mir’s latest historical murder mystery is set against this backdrop.
After the Mushaira-e-Khaas, a special evening of poetry at Nawab Iftikhar Hasan’s haveli in Old Delhi, a servant discovers the body of one of the poets in the early morning hours. Sukhan Khairabadi, a secret agent of the British, is found with a dagger sticking out of his chest. Since Mirza Ghalib is well acquainted with the milieu of poets and has already helped solve several criminal cases involving farmers, moneylenders and herders, the police enlist his support in helping crack the high-profile case. “When the powerful get paranoid, blood flows”—being a student of history, Ghalib knew this to be an axiom.
Many poets and even some from the British side are treated as suspects. Their motives are scrutinised. The investigations reveal a Pandora’s box of numerous little stories—romantic intrigues, top secrets and chaotic spy networks. “A Delhi of certitude, a Delhi of doubt/A Delhi muzzled, as Ghalib found out.”The author goes on to detail the modus operandi that Ghalib applies to solve the case. With the help of a scientific expert friend, Master Ramchandra, a professor at Delhi College, he finds out that the victim was poisoned before he was stabbed. He also figures that the Shahjahanabad murder may be linked to a military revolt. It makes him realise that the crime is not so much of a whodunit, rather a “whydunit”.
Steeped in history, the book is a work of fiction consisting of a cast of well-developed historical characters, who inhabited Delhi during 1857. But accounts of their appearances and personalities are mostly invented. The book also portrays vivid aspects of the mushaira, complete with its meticulous preparations and the noblemen who attend them—“the inebriated and depraved nobility of Delhi, who stood around and spouted empty erotic verse while two-faced foreigners stole their country from under their noses”.
Mir has previously written Ghalib: A Thousand Desires, The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry, and is the co-author of Anthems of Resistance: A Celebration of Progressive Urdu Poetry. Over a decade ago, he began thinking of a mystery with the “snooty poet laureate” of the Mughal court as a protagonist sleuth. Over time, he developed brief contours of a plot. In order to recreate the ambience of 19th-century Delhi and develop the context in which the revolt occurred, he deeply researched the era—for which he relied mostly on various Urdu texts.
Mir’s prose offers rich imagery of the walled city—the book’s primary setting—and its distinct sights and sounds; flooding the reader’s mind with the architecture of well-known locations, such as the Red Fort, Chandni Chowk, Lodi Garden, Mehrauli, Qutab Minar, Kashmiri Gate, Hauz-e-Alai, Jama Masjid and Siri Fort. The strong storyline, however, is somewhat diluted by the book’s length. Mir digresses in diverse directions, taking on too many themes and issues, and often loses sight of the main plot. Thus, despite all its charms, the mystery lacks sharpness.