I am an avid reader of mysteries. I started reading English novels way back in 1995 when I was in IXth standard. My grandfather used to tell me the stories of Holmes and I used to get fascinated. So I decided to read them myselves and to my surprise, the stories turned out to be much better to read than to listen. I finished the complete catelogue of Holmes when I was in college, then began my hunt for new authors. Read a lot of novels on fiction, literature, science hi-fi kinda stuff but those things could not make my mind think about them after they were finished and were back to the book shelves.

So I decided to move back into my old regime of mystery novels. I happily purchased a few novels of Earl Stanley Gardner which featured the famous detective – Perry Mason and his secretary – Della Street. I finished ‘em all at a speed of light and my hunger wanted more.

At such a time, I saw a book called – The Complete Adventures of Feluda – I. It was written by the legendary Satyajit Ray. Satyajit Ray has been a household name for years but as a film maker. So I decided to explore the other side of the man himself. I purchased both the volumes – I and II and thought of giving them a try.

To my surprise, the stories turned out to be highly interesting and they could not let me go. Feluda was awsome, he was a super sleuth with sufficient company from Topesh Mitter – his cousin and Lal Mohan Ganguly aka Jatayu – his friend. His best cases include “The Emperor’s Ring” where he solves a case in Lucknow, “The Golden Fortress”, which features Jatayu for the first time. I finished both the novels rather story books in a short time and started my hunt for more Indian specially Bengali style of mystery writings as I had already develped a charm for Calcutta and its life.

My quest could not get any success for the next one year or so and I had to satisfy my hunger for mystery novels by reading stories written by Christie, Gardner etc. It was one fine day in Mumbai when I decided to go to Fort to get som new books. I thought of going to Strands and thought of asking their recommendation. To my surprise, he recommended me the writings of Saradindu Bandhopadhyay. I was more than eager to have a look at the books and I was shocked to see the title of the book. It was BYOMKESH BAKSHI. I cannot express my happiness in words here, but I took the book and it was even better than the books on Feluda. The time period was mostly during the Raj era and the storytelling was excellent. I enjoyed reading each and every story of Byomkesh. In the meantime, I visited Bangalore and while strolling through the massive collection of Landmark, I found another book on Byomkesh. I immediately decided to purchase it. The book was a great one like the other Byomkesh book.

Since then, I have become an avid fan of Bengali mytery authors but am unfortunate not to find anyone else except for Saradindu and Satyajit Ray. I would request everyone, if you know any other author, please let me know..

The books are still in my bookshelf and I re-read them sometimes whenever I want to feel the charm of being in Calcutta…..