• Crime - English

    Mirage of the Maharaja

    June 24, 2025 - By 

    Ritoban Chatterjee Chapter 1: The Stolen Queen The chandelier above the Durbar Hall shimmered like a suspended constellation, each crystal catching the firelight from antique lamps placed along the carved marble columns. Outside, the Rajasthani dusk had settled into velvet darkness, and peacocks wailed somewhere in the thorny quiet of the palace gardens. Inside, the Mahaveergarh Palace buzzed with curated charm—foreign collectors, art connoisseurs, and minor royals sipped wine and traded glances beneath centuries of fading murals. They had all come to see it—The Dream of Jodha Bai—a painting whispered about in closed circles, unseen by the public for over…

  • Crime - English

    The Docks

    June 24, 2025 - By 

    Tumpa Chatterjee Chapter 1 The night the ship MV Samudra Falcon limped into Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the sky was a black, bruised canvas, streaked with furious lightning that split the monsoon clouds like shattered glass. The Arabian Sea roared with the rage of the storm, waves slapping against the hull of the vessel as if trying to wrest it back into the depths. Dockyard sirens wailed, their echoes swallowed by the wind that howled through the skeletal cranes and rusting cargo containers stacked like tombstones across the yard. The storm had delayed the unloading, and the men of the…

  • English - Crime

    Biryani, Burkha, and Betrayal

    June 23, 2025 - By 

    Sangeeta Chatterjee The aroma hit her first. Smoky, layered with saffron and ghee, laced with secrets. Inspector Ayesha Roy paused at the corner of Park Circus Lane No. 7, letting the scent guide her like a bloodhound. It wasn’t the first time food had been her clue. At thirty-four, she was the most unorthodox officer at the Taltala Police Station. She wore her kurtas crisp, her mind sharper, and her tongue sharpest of all. Her colleagues called her “The Knife with Kohl Eyes.” She didn’t mind. Some truths needed carving out. This morning, she wasn’t following a criminal. She was…

  • English - Crime

    Blood on the Canvas

    June 23, 2025 - By 

    Amit Mehra Chapter 1 — The Vanishing Masterpiece The Galerie du Ciel, nestled along a quieter bend of the Seine where the gaslights flickered like trembling brushstrokes upon the dark water, glowed with opulence on that fateful night. From sleek black sedans to vintage carriages, Paris’s elite arrived in waves, their jewels glinting like captured stars beneath the crystalline chandeliers that adorned the gallery’s vaulted ceiling. Inside, the air was heavy with the mingling scents of aged mahogany, jasmine perfume, and the faint, metallic tang of antique frames polished to perfection. At the very heart of the grand hall, beneath…

  • Crime - English

    Beneath the Grapevines

    June 20, 2025 - By 

    Shruti Salgaonkar Chapter 1: The Quiet Vineyard The sun had just begun to retreat behind the Sahyadris, casting a burnt-orange glow across the rolling vineyards of Nashik. The air smelled of ripening grapes and spring dust. Inspector Arvind Deshmukh parked his white Bolero at the edge of the Kadam estate and stepped out. The place was too quiet for a house that had just reported a death. A constable approached. “Sir, victim is Rohit Kadam. Forty-two. Winemaker. Found dead in bed by his wife, Meera Kadam. No signs of forced entry. Door was locked from the inside.” Arvind nodded without…

  • Crime - English

    The Last Guest: Fadeproof Files

    June 20, 2025 - By 

    Ayan Chakravarty Chapter 1 morning, slipped quietly under the door of Veena Rajput’s modest Shimla cottage as if it were just another electricity bill or property notice, though nothing about it felt ordinary. The envelope was thick, creamy-white, sealed with a dark wax emblem embossed with a crest she hadn’t seen before—a snowflake enclosed within a circle of thorns. Her instincts stirred, the way they used to in her active service days when something about a clue didn’t quite fit. The note inside was written in elegant, slanted calligraphy: “Detective Veena Rajput (Retd.), You are cordially invited to Snowcrest Manor…

  • Crime - English

    City of Crows

    June 19, 2025 - By 

    Anwesha Sen Chapter One: The Body in the Bay The Arabian Sea had always been Mumbai’s silent witness. It swallowed whispers, swallowed screams, and, sometimes, gave back what it could not digest. On that brittle winter morning, it gave back a body. A low fog hugged the coastline at Worli Sea Face, where joggers paused mid-stride, watching with pale faces as police tape flapped in the wind. The sky, still blushing with dawn, turned grim as sirens pierced the calm. ACP Bikash Patra stood silently, arms crossed, his face still as stone. A lean man in his late thirties with…

  • Crime - English

    Murder at the Writers’ Retreat

    June 19, 2025 - By 

    Niladri Ghosh One The snow-capped peaks of the lower Himalayas glittered like shattered glass under a late October sun as the authors began arriving one by one at The Elmswood Literary Retreat, a secluded luxury property perched above the sleepy town of Mashobra. Surrounded by deodar forests and mountain silence, the Elmswood looked like it had stepped out of a Wes Anderson film—high ceilings, golden oak floors, art-deco lamps, and fireplaces that crackled with designer flame logs. It was Maaya Kapoor who arrived first, stepping out of her chauffeur-driven SUV in a cream pashmina and oversized sunglasses that didn’t quite…

  • Crime - English

    The Seventh Morning

    June 18, 2025 - By 

    Aditya Karnik Shadows at Dawn The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the mist already draped over the ancient stone temple like a shroud. Birds refused to sing. In the village of Chittakere, Karnataka, morning was no longer a time of peace—it was a countdown to death. Detective Prasant Sharma stepped out of the jeep, his boots sinking slightly into the wet red earth. His khaki coat bore the weight of night-long travel and older memories he didn’t want stirred. Behind him, constables Sanjay and Latha looked equally grim, both glancing toward the towering temple spire that loomed against the pale…

  • Crime - English

    The Vanishing of Viraj Mehta

    June 16, 2025 - By 

    Chapter 1:  It was the sort of evening that wrapped Mumbai in a damp silence—one of those monsoon nights when the rain doesn’t roar, but hisses steadily, like a whisper of secrets meant to be hidden. The streetlights near Colaba Causeway flickered through the drizzle, casting shimmering reflections across the wet tarmac. Viraj Mehta, the 42-year-old diamond merchant with a reputation as clean as the stones he traded, checked his Rolex for the fourth time as he exited his office building. He had ended his day like any other: signing off ledger sheets, taking calls from Dubai, and checking shipments…