Thrilling crimes and saucy detective

Madhumita Bhattacharya is back with another thriller titled ‘Goa Undercover’. The book features protagonist Reema Ray, a detective, who started small in the first book of the trilogy ‘The Masala Murder’ and then gets involved in bigger investigations in ‘Dead in a Mumbai Minute’. ‘Goa Undercover’ is a third in the Reema Ray Mystery series. “She is smart, sexy and someone we can all relate to,” says Madhumita.

Is ‘Goa Undercover’ the conclusion of the trilogy or can we expect more thrillers from Reema? “As of now, this is the end of the series for me,” the author shares. The first book ‘The Masala Murder’ had Kolkata as the background and subsequently the second thriller had Mumbai.

About choosing Goa as the backdrop for the story, Madhumita says, “It is a place that is dear to my heart, and extremely interesting in its diversity and culture. It was fun to write a book set in Goa!”

The book ‘Goa…’ has many minute and intricate details like illegal mining in the state, crime, etc. “I have spent much time in Goa over the years and know it well. For this book, I made special trips to some places mentioned, such as Aguada Jail. The rest of the research was online. Crime in Goa, corruption in mining, both of which are touched upon, have been in the news quite a lot.”

“This book grew out of the second in the series, ‘Dead in a Mumbai Minute’. I do spend time planning plot and characters before I actually start writing,” she adds. It took around two years for Madhumita to pen ‘Goa…’ the writer says that she did not face writer’s block so much as writer’s hurdles. She says she is a mother and time is a luxury in her life!

All the three books of Madumita are thrillers and she says it is a genre that she loves to read and finds challenging to write. About the scene of thriller books in India, she says, “There are many being written nowadays, which wasn’t the case when I started out with ‘The Masala Murder six years ago’.”

She informs that her next project also involves a crime, but it isn’t a mystery novel. About her favourite author and book, she says, “Margaret Atwood is my favourite author. I don’t know if I have a favourite novel, but the one I have read most times is ‘Pride and Prejudice’.”

Before turning a full-time author Madhumita was a journalist. “I was with The Telegraph newspaper in Kolkata for over a decade, in various capacities.” When not writing what does Madhumita do? “I am a mother to a child and a dog, which pretty much takes all the time I have. I read. Like my character Reema Ray, I love baking, and am currently working on my bread-making skills!”

“My family is extremely supportive, and I do discuss my work with my husband. But when I am in the process of writing, I don’t like to talk about it,” she adds. Madhumita says that Kolkata city will again be the backdrop for her fourth book that she is yet to finish.

By: Navin Pivhal