A Fatal Distraction By Samyukta Bhowmick

Juggernaut, 2024

Reviewed by K.S.Loganathan

In her debut mystery novel, Samyukta Bhowmick introduces a pair of journalists, Mridula Majumdar and Monami Chatterjee , who together investigate the murders of two of  their colleagues  in their tabloid. The founder/editor is poisoned, and a celebrity columnist is strangled to death, both murders happening on the occasion of the launch of a book written by a debutant author, Kajol Puri ,during a theme party held at her residence in Delhi.

Apart from the family of the deceased, there were around 50-60 guests , with a handful of suspects close to the scene of the murders. Due to excessive media interest in the high profile case, police enquiries are hampered.

Both the journalists , Mridula and Monami, pursue a classical style of investigation that was prominent in the period considered as  the Golden Age of Crime Fiction between 1920s and 1940s. It mainly involved interviewing the witnesses to the crime, and an analysis of the suspects’ motive , means and opportunity to commit the crime, and it depended  less on the modern means of investigation like electronic surveillance, police forensic investigations , DNA testing, profiling etc.which form the staple of contemporary detective stories nowadays. The action is wholly centred in Delhi.

The book is divided into three parts, conforming to the classical plot structure , with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The narrative sags in the middle as the interviews drag on. However, the deductions are sound and the followers of classical mystery novels may find the book in local setting of interest.

Thank you, Juggernaut, for the review copy.