Piggies on the Railway is scheduled for release in February and since I know the book was already in production as of late December 2009, I should get my author copies soon. Anytime now. Yippee!
It’s rather strange that I’m eagerly awaiting my copies of the second book. I was nowhere near as excited as I am now during Kkrishnaa’s release. In fact I wrote about it at the time. I wrote about how it was actually quite a letdown.
I held the freshly minted book in my hand, expecting to bond with it like a mother with her newborn. Strangely, I felt quite the opposite. Like the creature I had just given birth to couldn’t possibly be mine. And no, not in a Rosemaryish-I-couldn’t-have-mothered-the-ugly-red-devil-spawn kinda way either. It was more of a detached, ‘hunh, so that’s what was inside the baby bump’ kinda way.
Anyway, I guess the reason I’m so excited about Piggies, and apprehensive, is because it is, in a sense, a career high. A tangible result. KRA accomplished. One book can be a fluke. Two books makes it a career.
So, although I have been told Piggies is a better, funnier, more intricate book than Kkrishnaa, it is also a bigger book. Literally, too. At 1,00,000 plus words, you’ll probably need a use a stand while reading it. You know, the kind that you use to prop up religious books. Kidding. It is hardly ‘the book’ although I’m, hoping it will be one when it comes to defining crime fiction in India.
Piggies on the Railway – A Kasthuri Kumar Mystery, the definitive modern Indian crime fiction novel. I kinda like the sound of that.
When tall, suave, handsome Kaustav Kapoor walks into her office, ditzy private investigator Kasthuri (aka Katie) Kumar has anything but detection on her mind. He is, after all, a scion of Bollywood’s first family—perhaps he has a role for her? Perhaps she will, at last, get to sashay down the red carpet in a designer gown, with flash bulbs following her every move?
But Kapoor’s intentions are much more prosaic: he wishes Katie to trace the heroine of his new blockbuster (and, if Katie’s read the glossies correctly, his life) who is mysteriously AWOL. Despite her misgivings, Katie finds herself unable to refuse the task entrusted to her, and thereon follows a bewildering hunt for the film star across a trail of corpses.
And if that isn’t excitement enough, she has to contend with the maddening and mysterious, but, oh-so-hot, Tejas Deshpande.
The first in a brand new detective series.
IN BOOKSTORES NOW.
Smita Jain's Weblog 
🙂 Am sure you know that it has been mentioned in HT Cafe’s 2010s Hot books to read next year! The list is complied by Thomas Abraham of Hachette India.
dear smita, i thoroughly enjoyed kkrishnaas konfessions and am looking forward to teeny weeny little chubby wubby piggies on the railway. gosh the title sounds sumptuous! (not in the pork-y kind of way, i havent tasted it in my life)
i will grab my copy but manage to read it only once my exams get over in april. wish you all the best!
I am actually curious about your book, Smita. I know you must’ve done a great job of it writing and story wise. What I am more curious about is the ‘crime fiction’ bit. I am a big fan of the genre. I might sound a bit hokey, but I am yet to meet someone who has read more crime than me. From Raymond Chandler to Michael Connelly, there isn’t an author worth cutting trees for that I have missed.
However, when I look at Indians writing in this genre, the shelf is sadly barren. I am, or rather was, a big fan of the hindi crime fiction novels. Surendra Mohan Pathak is perhaps a definitive voice there. But nobody has attempted it with any great success in English.
‘Hard boiled’ or ‘Gumshoe’ genre is a big industry in the west. People like Dash Hammett and Lawrence Block are considered legendery. Folks like Robert Crais and Sue Grafton have become contemporary masters. Not to forget Janet Evanovich (I get a feeling that perhaps Piggies would be closer to Evanovich than Grafton).
I wish you great success with this. I hope you bring in the much awaited revolution in this genre for Indian writing in english.
Cheers
Rohit
@Smita, yes. Thought of putting it up here but then was inexplicably, uncharacteristically shy 🙂
@Rima, thank you for your kind words and all the best for your exams 🙂
@Rohit, you are right on all counts! I, like you am a huge fan of and have read most of these authors. Also, as you said, and widely reported by media, Indian bookshelves are sadly devoid of good crime fiction. I don’t why that is. And also, my character is more like Stephanie Plum rather than Kinsey Milhone, but the case is more let’s say, A is for Alibi 🙂