Renowned English author Ruskin Bond’s latest work, to be brought out next month, is a collection of murder stories that will keep the readers mystified till the very end. Earlier too, the author’s detective stories in several collections like “When Darkness Falls” became very popular .Tales of Fosterganj and Maharani also dealt with suspense and mystery which the author deals with delicately and even with a dark humour.
Talking to The Pioneer today , Bond said that “Death under the Deodars” would have eight murder mysteries . “Most of them are entirely fiction while a couple of them are based on real happenings .They are all set in the Mussoorie of the 1960s and 1970s.”
He said that an old hotel of Mussoorie, with its name changed , would be the setting of the detective dramas of the new book that is being published by Penguin.
In one of the stories , there is a demented author who does away with publishers of Daryaganj in Delhi one by one as they keep refusing to publish his work. So it is clear that Bond’s characteristic black humour will be an important dimension of the murder stories.
Early next year, Bond’s much-awaited Memoirs will be published and will be of great interest to his countless admirers all over the country and the world. It will reveal many details of the author’s life lived mostly in the Doon valley and Mussoorie. He has already shared with his readers several years of his life in works like Scenes from a Writer’s life and The lamp is lit. In fact, in many of his works, he has written about himself and his surroundings ,giving his writing a subjective and informal complexion.
The author said that Scholastic publishers were bringing out his biography (text and illustrations) written by Shamim Padamsee.
The writer will soon be leaving for the three-day Guwahati literary Festival to be held this month. At the moment, he is enjoying the “extremely pleasant” weather in Mussoorie. The Doon valley looks forward to having him here in December, the month when he loves to come down to sunny Doon from the freezing landour, his home in Mussoorie.
Meanwhile, highly awaited by Bond readers is the nail-biting excitement and suspense of Death under the Deodars.