Mystery in stone

I wrote this for The Hindu Sunday Magazine....and decided to collect MJ books! ENGRAVED IN STONE Madhulika Liddle Hachette 309 pages Rs395 Have you met Marcus Didius Falco? Perhaps not, since he was born a while ago, in March 41AD, to be precise. He quit the Roman army soon after the Boudiccan Revolt and became a private investigator who via a series of adventures – and some misadventures – is attached to the royal court, a go-to man that Emperor Vespasian consults whenever life gets rather more complicated than usual and there is blood shed under circumstances that are not easily understood. Falco has a significant other in Helena, daughter of a senator, a very unsuitable and unacceptable match in the strict class system of the time, who helps him in his work and keeps him coming back home to her. Muzaffar Jung would like Falco. They come from different times, cultures and contexts, but show the same persistence and determination, slogging on until the end and always aiming to win, no matter how ‘unsolvable’ the case. And success always comes with a few bruises, some friends made, others lost, and lots of questions that are usually answered. Muzaffar Jung is a detective in 17th century Mughal India, a charmer you may have met in The Englishman’s Cameo (2009) or The Eighth Guest and Other Muzaffar Jung Mysteries (2011). He has class, he has style, he has looks, he has brains…what more does an investigator need? This tale starts with blood and has a happy ending, literally speaking – not only is the murder mystery solved, but MJ (as I found myself calling him very soon into the book) finds a lady he can – and does – love. It starts in a livestock bazaar in Agra, where MJ is looking for a horse, since his own has become lame with infection. A close friend finds him there and him to borrow one of his horses. Muzaffar goes home with Akram and meets his uncle, Mumtaz Hassan, in his opulent, OTT home, decorated lavishly, showing the greater use of money than sense. And as the two friends talk, bond, share a meal, there is something dark lurking in the shadows. And no, it is not a minion or a dog, but a murderer. Mumtaz Hassan is killed, his assassin melting into the landscape as if he – or she- were a djinn who had vanished into the mists. In hot pursuit, MJ stumbles over another mystery, this one much older and far more difficult to unravel – a missing woman. As the stories so many people tell get tangled, much like the fishing nets in the Yamuna, and slowly and painstakingly untangled, many truths are revealed, many secrets uncovered. The murderer is found, the woman’s story is heard, the villains punished. And delightfully, albeit expectedly, MJ finds love in the lovely shape and face of Shireen, the lady who was being mooted to him as a potential bride. But what is most interesting is not the story itself. It is the way that story is told. Liddle writes easily, relaxedly, naturally, setting the scene in 17th century Agra without sounding like a history lesson or a museum lecture. The language is contemporary; the way of thought and movement is too. The narrative style is casual, everyday, the stuff of which young urban linguistic India is made. Yes, there is a setting that is ye olde India, the fashions, the class structure, the monuments…everything works to place MJ in his time and place, but without any laboring, with no hint of academic must. The first paragraph itself makes you fall in love with the narrative style, which takes you back to Agra’s nakhkhas or the cattle market during Shahjahan’s time. It’s just been a few years since the Taj Mahal was built. It stands proud and unpolluted in the heat of the city and people who grew up seeing it being built from scratch and artisans who worked then speak of the days of the Taj. The stories behind the fine architecture and their superstitions, as secrets from the past and present unfold, and the mystery of the paving stones is slowly revealed. The humour is intelligent wherever intended. “And no, the hands of artisans who built the Taj Mahal were not chopped off,” says one of the characters, outraged at such a rumour, going into an animated explanation of why this is a ridiculous thing to assume. Evidences of how the rich were getting richer and poor becoming poorer in those days, inter-state politics, the religious, cultural and social practices that prevailed, make an interesting read, giving you an insight into the kind of lives people led during that period. It is a story set in the backdrop of history you have grown up reading and can relate to. If you love detective novels, this is a must read.