Lockdown
Last year’s lockdown introduced me to Amazon. And Amazon introduced me to online shopping. I went searching for books. Not the popular titles and bestsellers. Or new releases. But old books are out of print and circulation and just not available for love or money. There I came across, to my unbelieving joy, H. R. F. Keating’s Inspector Ghote series of cheap paperbacks. Being a book reader, I just loved this.
I am a big book reader of crime fiction. And I love police procedurals and detective stories. Even thrillers and mysteries. I have an enviable collection. By several internationally renowned crime authors. Everyone – except the English writer Keating most notable for his series of Bombay Police crime novels featuring Inspector Ganesh Ghote of the CID.
Amazon has them. Twenty-seven titles in all.
My order goes like
I ordered three to start my collection. Including The Perfect Murder – Keating’s first Inspector Ghote novel, written in 1964, without ever having been to India. I find it incredible that Keating’s works were of pure imagination. Yet he made Inspector Ghote seem credible. Or at least enjoyable. He wrote nine novels before finally visiting Bombay.
The books are written in a racy, chatty manner. More dialogue than description. But they have a sense of authenticity. Crime in Bombay then was the goonda and his switchblade. A stabbing in the alley. Kidnapping. Violent industrial strikes and political rallies. A robbery at knifepoint. Not the gangster with automatic weapons and RDX, Dubai connections, and a fanatical mission against the state.
Inspector Ghote is also not the hotshot, ageless ACP Pradyamun of CID fame. He’s a simple middle-class Maharashtrian family man. Engaged in fighting the Indian criminal justice system as much as lawbreakers. Harassed by politics in the force. Gets no respect and little cooperation in his investigations. But wins the day by his sheer doggedness. He’s appeared in movies and TV serials abroad. And I’m just discovering him.
About Mark Manuel
The above thoughts/content has been proudly copied from the wall of Sir Mark Manuel. Being interviewing almost every role model of this country and going stronger each day. Mark Manuel is a respected Mumbai editor, writer, and columnist.
With over three decades of journalism in leading publications. This includes the Free Press Journal, Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Mid-Day, and Afternoon. He is famous for his brilliant pen interviews. He himself is a TEDx speaker.
Further
His interviews have featured in several leading media houses. They include the Hindustan Times, Huffington Post, BBC, and Network 18. Almost every famous person has been interviewed by him. In the country from Mother Teresa to Muhammad Ali. His first book is just out. It’s titled Moryaa Re! It is a crime thriller that is perhaps the country’s first police procedural. He began his career covering crime. And in a tribute to his experience and knowledge of this beat.
Several distinguished officers of the Mumbai Police and its Crime Branch collaborated with him to make this book possible. In a statement of friendship for Mark Manuel and admiration for his work, Amitabh Bachchan wrote the forward.
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