2012 seems to be the year of the Indian author. If a segment of the classes don’t want Salman Rushdie to come to India for the Jaipur Literature Festival later this month, there’s a whole other section who are lapping-up novels by newer writers, most of whom have gotten published for the first time.
For instance, we had just had Kalli Puri launch a book on dieting and, stand-up comic Sorabh Pant, release his hilarious account of the atfer-life.
Now, Kiran Manral, a well-known freelance writer, blogger and media consultant who lives in Mumbai (and is also the founder of India Helps, a volunteer network which works with disaster victims), launches her first novel, The Reluctant Detective.
Synopsis:
Kay, a.k.a. Kanan Mehra, is a thirty-something suburban housewife and young mother with a penchant for sticking her curious nose into things she definitely, absolutely and certainly shouldn’t go near. When a couple of corpses turn up in quick succession in her neighbourhood, she teams up with her detective friend, Runa, in a half-hearted attempt to find the murderers, only to suspect that perhaps the detective business doesn’t quite become her. A hilarious account of how not to get involved in other people’s murders, The Reluctant Detective is the story of every school-gate mom, searching for a purpose in her life that goes beyond kitty lunches, shopping and fish pedicures.
The novel (published by Westland) is available at all leading book stores and is priced at a modest Rs.195/-