The Menagerie and Other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries

Language: English
Pages: 315

From the Back of the Book:When in 1932 Saradindu decided to try

his hand at detective fiction looked down upon in Bengali literary circles of that

time as frivolous ventures he scarcely expected Byomkesh Bakshi to become one

of the most popular and enduring creations in Bengali literature. Although largely

modeled on such greats as Conan Doyle's Holmes and chesterton's Father

Brown Byomkesh's appeal as the self-styled inquisitor a detective not by

profession but by passion found him a dedicated following among generations of

readers. The present collection of stories all set in Calcutta of the fifties and

sixties, brings together four mysteries that put the sleuth's remarkable mental

agility to the ultimate test. In The Menagerie cracks a strange case involving

broken motor parts a seemingly natural death and the peculiar inhabitants of

Golap Colony who seem capable of doing just about anything to safeguard the

secrets of their tainted pasts. In the jewel case he investigates the mysterious

disappearance of a priceless necklace while in The Will That Vanished he solves

a baffling riddle to fulfill the last wish of a close friend. And in the Quills of the

Porcupine the shrewd detective is in his element as he expertly foils the sinister

plans of a ruthless opportunist. Sreejata guha's translation captures brilliantly

the thrill and ingenuity of Byokesh's exploits just as it does Bandyopadhyay's

remarkable portrayal of a city struggling to overcome its colonial past and come

into its own.
CONTENTS

The Menagerie1
The Jewel Case155
The Will That Vanished181
The Quills of the Porcupine200
Translator's Note313