Misir Ali Omnibus I

After you have selected a book based on its focus on mystery as well as psychology, it will stimulate the senses in a different way when the supernaturals emerge prime. Devi starts with a newly-wed wife displaying behaviour that seems clairvoyance to the husband who seeks help from Misir Ali, among others. But quickly the theme diverges when the family of the landlord gets involved in a problem which curiously mingles with that of the couple. The suspense gathers momentum as the climax is reached but the rationale of the rescue of the innocent remains mysterious even to the sleuth. But the doubts are cleared in Nishithini, the story that follows though it might not be satisfying to those whose mind is not so open to take in ideas that are based on simple belief. Further challenges for the reader await in Nishaad, where evidences of parallel worlds make Ali as baffled as the traveller between them. The narrative establishes another dimension as well to the life of Misir. Nilu, the student turned collateral victim of an earlier story turned admirer of Ali, takes it upon herself to try convincing Misir of their destined relationship. Their marriage is consummated in Anyabhuvan, but not before leading the seeker of the paranormal to a quest that leaves him with more puzzles than those he apparently solves. The story starts with the perspective of Misir Ali but culminates from a different angle which makes it a bit lengthy with the twist diluted even while a horrific future is forecast. The narrative actually concludes with a hint of a follow up which might be necessary if the chronology is to be maintained. On a different note, the following story, Brihannala, is unlike its predecessors and is a definite mystery, which, the ingenuity of the author camouflages for quite sometime. Here, the author is the protagonist, who meets Ali as the latter come seeking for him for a curious case and gets to understand him as their association progresses. Irritated, initially and trying to avoid the sleuth, the author finally gets convinced of the selfless intentions of the truth seeker and accompanies him to unravel a deep lying mystery that reveals a horrifying tragedy. The following is a collection of three bizarre stories, Bhoy, Jin Kafil and Sangeeni, which belong definitely to the mystery genre but for the last where the revelation remains satisfyingly unsatisfying. In these, the author is also a character in some cases. The following in line is another attraction due to a couple of reasons. When the underlying tension is over, a curious twist awaits the readers which keeps us guessing about whether the danger was the effect or sensing danger is the cause to stimulate the psychological effect that is central to its theme and justifies naming it Bipad, which translates to danger. Its other feature is its shows the rationale by which the sleuth solves for the truth which makes him indeed an expert in dealing with abnormal behaviour in the otherwise normal world. The next story, Anish, finds a 51 year old Misir Ali fighting an ailing liver but is eager to help the distressed. His sincerity drives him to guide a tormented mother find peace as her diary reveals her apparent hallucination of hearing the apparent dead. The next title is on the conservative side as it says Misir Alir Amimangshito Rahasya which translates to unsolved mystery of the truth seeker but in essence, there are double mysteries, one of which is apparently solved, convincing the reader albeit the evidence is only implied while the other is only conjectured without a shred of evidence to corroborate the assumptions. Interestingly, this feeling stimulated by incompleteness is the signature beauty of the pieces where Humayun Ahmed excels in keeping the magical reality alive. Added to this is the Bangladeshi setting that keeps the nationality original. The smell of the common people with the characteristic depth of the brilliant mind is etched in the central character which makes these remarkable in the intellectual domain as well. But the underlying theme of each story is tragedy, where events that are unexplained, seems to lead people to some unhappy future.

Tales of Mystery & Terror

The first part contains stories which had been a part of a larger volume already discussed. These being the Tales of Terror, contains The Horror of Heights, The Leather Funnel, The New Catacomb, The Case of Lady Shannox, The Terror of Blue John Gap and The Brazilian Cat. But the inertia of terror continues in the first two Tales of Mystery bearing the names The Lost Special and The Beetle-Hunter. The former is the mystery of a special train seemingly vanishing into thin air while the later is a curious anecdote of a doctor witness to a strange behaviour of a seemingly sane scientist. Though there is mystery in each but the strain of terror predominates to make them horrifyingly gripping. The next is the story of The Man with the Watches who is found murdered in a first class carriage without any tickets but with six watches in the dead man's pockets. A gleam of scandal seems to lurk in the the residence of a widower with the entire household doubting the master when a chance situation reveals the truth in The Japanned Box whose content had been the centre of speculations to all. Again an apparent murder of The Black Doctor causes much stir and it remains to be seen whether the accused can be acquitted in a courtroom drama. The curious apparent desecration of The Jew's Breastplate torments the curator and he sets a trap to catch the perpetrator only to reveal a painful truth. But drama is at its extreme in the final piece of The Nightmare Room where everybody will be held unguarded when the mystery is spawned with the last line giving the solution so refreshingly beautiful. Only one bad thing about the publication is the confusion in closing page sequences along with orientations that will cause a bit of a bother to the flow of reading during the finale otherwise so tersely grand.

The Uttermost Farthing A Savant's Vendetta

A criminal anthropologist with a fame of comparative anatomist starts on a vengeance of his own to eliminate those whom he considers scums of society after his tragic lost of his beloved in a robbery gone astray. A horrifying yet gripping tale of vendetta that is made yet more horrid by the minute details of the procedures that lead the unsuspecting victims to their last breath keeps the suspense alive. But the most terrifying is not the killings but the fact that each is ingenuously preserved with records to serve as a model to research characteristic anatomy of criminals in general. The nature of the narrative is quite novel where the readers may predict the ultimate but here lies the signature style of Freeman where he keeps the interest from never going dull by the way he describes events after events culminating to what the readers actually hope to reach. An enjoyable fast paced read that will keep readers glued to the pages but never will find themselves on the edge of the seats.

The Great Tales of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The versatility of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be felt in the pages of this book that comprises stories penned  by the creator of Holmes and Challenger some of which equals if not surpasses his more popular titles. Categorised  as the following the stories are a treasure trove of adventure, fun, terror, history and much more:

• Tales of the Ring
1. The Croxley Master
2. The Lord of Falconbridge
3. The Fall of Lord Barrymore
4. The Crime of the Brigadier
5. The King of the Foxes
6. The Bully of Brocas Court

• Tales of Pirates

7. Captain Sharkey: How the Governor of Saint Kitt's came Home
8. The Dealings of Captain Sharkey with Stephen Craddock
9. The Blighting of Sharkey
10. How Copley Banks slew Captain Sharkey
11. The “Slapping Sal”
12. A Pirate of the land (One Crowded Hour)

• Tales of Blue Water

13. The Striped Chest
14. The Captain of the “Polestar”
15. The Fiend of the Cooperage
16. Jelland’s Voyage
17. J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement

• Tales of Terror

18. Horror of the Heights
19. The Leather Funnel
20. The New Catacomb
21. The Case of lady Shannox
22. The Terror of Blue John Gap
23. The Brazilian Cat

• Tales of Twilight and the Unseen

24. The Brown Hand
25. The usher of Lea House School
26. B.24
27. The Great Keinplatz Experiment
28. A literary Mosaic
29. Playing with Fire
30. The Ring of Thoth
31. The Los Amigos Fiasco
32. How It Happened
33. Lon No. 249
34. “De Profundis”
35. The Lift

• Tales of Long Ago

36. The Last of the Legions
37. The Last Galley
38. Through the Veils
39. The coming of the Huns
40. The Contest
41. The First Cargo
42. An Iconoclast
43. Giant Maximin
44. The Red Star
45. The Silver Mirror
46. The Home-Coming
47. A Point of Contact

The author's fascination for the pugilists and their game and his inclination towards the paranormals are expressed in the volumes in some of the most fantastic stories of the genre that sometimes mixes both with an unique blend. But this does not prevent him to tell science fictions with the similar classic touch. Again, devoid of paranormals, some of the tales of terror are so chilling that it will match a horror story based on the supernaturals. But his mastery seemed at its supreme with the anecdotes of historical fictions that depicts the cruel yet brave world of a time long ago when the earth was defined by the adventures of her heroins and heroes. The cruelty of Captain Sharkey and his downfall (a bit confusing as two different stories hints at two different ways) is depicted in the stories of the seas and other stories also fills in with adventures of sailors each stranger than the other. Humour also finds place in some of the most fun filled misadventures that makes them more refreshing.

A Face in the Dark and other Hauntings

This is not 007 of whom I've not read but watched only on movies, but my first flavour of Ruskin Bond is pleasanter than I thought. As revealed in the Introduction a non-believer of ghosts did not stop Bond to write some fascinating stories of the other world. The stories all can't be termed as truly of the hauntings but unexplained phenomenon predominates in almost all the stories.A fascinating blends humour and horror te book is a treasure for fans of English short stories. You read about ghosts but never get terrorized and infact begin to love some of them. Though macabre finales will haunt you but the effect of fear will wear out quickly. Filled with characters from Indian surroundings, the stories also portray some legendary fictitious and real persons too. Black humour is also not left out that seems so required for its completeness. Gory events are elegantly portrayed and the smell of rustic ambience can be felt in almost every anecdote. Infact the spirits are not all human and have twists that are more unexpected than the characters. Thus the Indian ghosts again remain paramount in

• A Face in the Dark
• The Monkeys
• The Haunted Bicycle
• The Vision
• Whistling in the Dark
• Reunion at the Regal
• Wilson's Bridge
• Topaz
• The Black Cat
• Whispering in the Dark
• The Wind on Haunted Hill
• The Ghost in the Garden
• On Fairy Hill
• Will Ashley Return?
• The Prize
• Eyes of the Cat
  
• Susanna's even Husbands
• The Trouble with Jinns
• The Haunted Bungalow
• Ganpat's Story
• Listen to the Wind
• Ghosts of the Savoy
• The Man who was Kipling
• The Daffodil Case
• Picnic at Fox-Burn
• Something in the Water
• The Family Ghost
• Night of the Millennium

Sarbanashinee

The story handed over to me by one of my webfriends can be considered a collector's item just because it is written by none other than P(n)achkadi De, one of the pioneers of Bengali detective fiction. But strangely enough this was not a mystery story and as I was beginning to feel disappointed about it, soon the mood changed as it unfolded to a gripping horror narrative set in the hills of North Bengal. Little did I knew about Shri De but for this short story that introduced the author with his complete literary skill as fear unfolded silently as the story progressed. Designed in a series of letters a horrifying incident seem to repeat as the thirsty spirit craved for human sacrifices to redeem the sin committed long ago. Maybe this plot, not apparently such a novel one now, had been the inspiration for several authors down the line whose works are more popular to us and whose penmanship had metamorphosed the plot in various hues through the ages. It had been a revelation to me and I think I am starting to become a fan of the author.

Hemendrakumar Rachanabali Vol - XV

The Hemendrakumar Rachanabali starts with a collection of horror stories, the first being Mohanpurer Sashan. Besides the title story in contains several others which will give you the creeps as you go through them. But in Jeebanta Mreetadeha the details are more about one of the great floods at Contai where the plight of a family and their visitors are described. The collection ends with Abhishapta Murti that relates how a cursed statue found half-buried in Konark terrorizes a family. As the horror series ends begins the adventure Jakshapatir Ratnapuri as observed from the perspective of Bimal, in which a chance incident at Calcutta directs Bimal and Kumar on an exciting trail of ancient treasure whose clue is planted in a curious little riddle. Next comes the best Digvijayee Napoleon, that is nothing short of a magnificent ode written in prose for one of the greatest emperors of all times. Not only was the emperor in Napoleon has been detailed but his astute war tactics, his intellect, his erudite soul and his passionate patriotism blended with his misfortunes and fortunes – all have been narrated with a passionate zeal in this prose. The next again brought back cherished memory of my childhood as Firoza-Mukut Rahasya was a whodunit that I had earlier read in a book of collection of mystery stories. The best part of the story was that the evidence against the supposed criminal was so strong it was left upon Jayanta’s sharp intellect to look beneath the strata of the apparently straightforward events and unearth the real culprit and the stolen fragment of the seemingly priceless Firoza crown. The detective’s adventure continues in the collection Jayantar Adventure that contains a handful of short stories with Jayanta-Manik and Sundarbabu in action solving curious crimes as narrated by Manik. It starts with the murder mystery in Bansai Rahasya that the sleuth solves humoring the police force. In Kamrar Mamla, the intriguing plot is shrewdly solved by Jayanta but the escape of the murderer after the crime was not very convincing. The next Double Mamlar Hamla was a plot where an apparent suicide turned into a cruel murder mystery. It is followed by the short but stylish Aprilasya Pratham Dibase whose title itself provides the clue to the entire story. The making of a sleuth is Jayanta at his younger days is depicted in the next, Revolver whose title and the opening few lines are sufficient to provide the main plot of the tale.

Eker Pithe Dui

My favourite of Ray's assortment of a dozen short stories with horror, ghost, sci-fi, adventure and a mystery blended in the hardback. the content runs as

• Anukul
• Telephone
• Aami Bhut
• Kaagtarua
• Lakhpati
• Ganesh Mutsuddir Portrait
• Nitai O Mahapurush
• Kutum-Katam
• Nidhiraamer Icchapuran
• Raamdhaner B(n)ashi
• Master Angshuman
• Bosepukure Khunkharapi

The best part of the collection is the usual thrill of the twist at the climax is heightened by extreme fiction that has been masterfully masked till the finale. The stories include a humanoid robot with senses more like humans, a call from the land of the mist, narrative by a ghost that has been followed by a curious dream, the transformation of a proud soul, extraordinary skill of an artist, a horror adventure, a funny metamorphosis, a terrified ghost, a short adventure in Master Angshuman, my favourite in my younger age and the pick of the lot and finally the mystery surrounding the murder and the family of an opera artist. The stories are so designed as to keep its impression lasting for years if not decades.

Hemendrakumar Roy Rachanabali Vol – III

The book starts with an adventure Tsarinar Kanthahar and though at the start it seems only Bimal-Kumar are involved but as the trail of the villain becomes more and more complex Jayanta-Manik also appears in the picture. The best thing about Hemen Roy is that he could devise plots and that too adventurous ones in the heart of Calcutta and there lies his ingenuity in the realms if imagination as while normal authors will think adventure in the deceptive crevices, in the dark seabeds and elsewhere, Hemen Roy on the other hand explores the intricacies of the city's by lanes and creates adventure there only. True, the quality of the adventure may not seem too appealing in today's perspective but then it must be remembered that at his time, much of Calcutta had not been turned to 'caves of steel', if I may indulge using the word from Asimov's novel of the same name. Also the villain in this novel plots novel traps and how the quad with Sundarbabu tackles these are sure to keep you interested in the story. An annexe story Ek-Ratrer Bibhishika is a classic short story of its genre and is gripping in its span of only a few pages. I don't know why this is not indexed and also quite confused as to its inclusion as an extension of the the previous novel.

The next feature Sahityik Saratchandra, is as the name implies, about a brief biography of the literary genius of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. Here, the author starts with a brief history of the Bankim and Rabindra era of Bengali literature and then goes straight to the childhood days of Sarat right from his birth on 1876 and dwells on his early introduction to literature. His love for adventure and dissatisfaction in the disciplined school life both fuelled his passion for literature and several characters with whom he grew up, his sisters, his friend 'Raju', all had found places in his creations, infact these were his tributes to the personalities and places that he were fond of and his literary genius moulded these as central characters in novels like 'Baradidi', 'Srikanta', 'Pather Dabi'. Hemen Roy writes in his own fascinating way the misery that once shadowed the literary life of Saratchandra during his stay at Rangoon and his re-entry in the pages of the magazine Jamuna and following up with his emergence in the more popular Bharatbarsha. The author's research is extensive and his style of writing so enjoyable that it never feels boring while reading this biography. That Saratchandra was a shy speaker but an excellent singer, a revered individual but someone who could mingle easily with the common men - these facts are illustratively described in the article. Finally Hemen Roy went on to a brief discussion on the dramatization of Saratchandra's plays which though encouraged him to attempt at playwriting but those never saw a bolder realization, so unlike of his penmanship as novelist. The discussion also included picturization of several of his novels and how these were successful in the theatres. The person Saratchandra has also been fondly remembered as the author writes of his personal traits, his addictions and his love of beings, both human and animal. Saratchandra's nature was also no less appealing than his novels. This was more apparent when, following his rise to fame and wealth, he still continued his normal lifestyle and invited people, both common and extra-ordinary, in the same way. The great Saratchandra was 9indeed great for these traits. As an addendum, Hemen Roy has included another chapter where he has started with a personal anecdotes centering his first meeting with Saratchandra. Then onwards he has included some refreshing humorous moments shared in the presence of Saratchandra, Saratpandit, Rabindranath and several others. The refreshing way that the article ends again proves the correctness of Premendra Mitra's comments in the introduction of the volume that Hemendrakumar was unique in his writing and this identified him in the crowd of host of other writers of the time.

The story that follows up is Jayanta-Manik's treasure hunt with Sundarbabu in Sonar Anaras where they starts off to solve a riddle directing to some treasure trove secured by centuries of secrecy. Though it is supposed to be a mystery story but adventure predominates and only a touch of the bizarre is added to thrill of the hunt. The villain is identified at the beginning but the treasure is uncovered at the end. Also the rest of the people excepting Jayanta-Manik, Bhushopagla and the evil genius had been portrayed so dumb that the story loses the touch of reality throughout. Thus what remains to be enjoyed is the adventure and the trail of the treasure only!

The next chapters categorized as Bhuter Raja is reserved for short ghost stories and some of them are sure to give creeps. Here the author had followed a new style in quite a few stories. Generally short horror stories have a single climax at the final pages. But in some of the stories when it seems that the climax has passed, turning over the pages it is found that the story is far from its completion and a second climax awaits that intensifies the suspense in a markedly unique way.