The Quills of the Porcupine by Saradindhu Bandyopadhyay

✨🕵🏽‍♂️“I have heard from Pramod that you do not hanker after fame. The truth is all you seek. Ha, ha!”🕵🏽‍♂️✨

Dubbed as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Indian Fiction, Saradindhu Bandyopadhyay's ‘Pother Kanta’ or ‘The Quills of the Porcupine’ from the collection “The Menagerie and other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries”, is one of the best detective fiction novels our country has to offer. Translated from the regional language Bengali to English by Sreejata Guha, the novel focuses on a string of murders where the killer has used porcupine quills to kill his victims. To solve this mystery, Byomkesh Bakshi, the charmingly, intelligent detective and a proficiency for forensic science and logical reasoning.

The story focuses on a random series of murders- each victim from a different class of society. Set in 1950s Kolkata with a bourgeoisie style of living, the plot unfolds to show that the victims are connected to the life of an unhappily married couple, Dipa and Debashish and their group of friends and neighbours who enjoy an evening of chai (tea) and chit-chat. Dipa, as a character, is fresh and unorthodox for the era she is written in. She loves listening to the radio, reading books, harbouring rebellious thoughts and she fell in love with a man who is not from her caste- their love story consists of softly spoken few words exchanged over a telephone and stolen glances from her barred when he passed her house. She was strong enough to come clean to her grandfather- the patriarch of the house and when denied, she decided to run away with her lover. Debashish is also shown as an unorthodox man for the era- he’s accepting of his wife’s needs and desires, he treats her as an actual human being and respects her.

Although the novel is a murder mystery, Bandyopadhyay has woven the themes of the human psyche and the dual nature of man, alienation in the big city, social strata and divisions based on class and caste.

The narrator follows the main characters and reveals their seemingly dark activities tied to crimes. This adds to the mystery. Bakshi, along with his own John Waston, Ajit Babu, is actually introduced in the later stages of the story after the reader is well acquainted with the characters. He wasn't in hurry to solve the mystery- he is shown to relax or simply enjoying his cup of chai with the group.

But slowly and steadily, Bakshi not only unravels the murder mystery with a love story at the heart of it but also busts the crime ring involving several characters from the novel. This showcases that Bakshi is not a detective by profession but by passion- it is not his job to solve the mystery assigned to him but it is his interest to look beyond what is assigned so he can leave no stone unturned.

The author lays great emphasis on the details; his characters are complexed and the stories are engrossing. The story is unconventional- where the details of the mystery and background of the characters are already provided to the reader before the “hero detective” arrives at the scene- it adds to the thrill as it keeps the reader guessing from the get-go with the whodunit factor. The ending of the novel is highly satisfactory.

Exhilarating and engaging, Byomkesh Bakshi’s mystery and adventure is a must-read of people who loves murder mystery that leaves a long-lasting impression.