A NICE QUIET HOLIDAY by Aditya Sudarshan, Westland, Rs.250.
Aditya Sudarshan, a graduate of National Law School, Bangalore has recently published his debut mystery novel “A Nice Quiet Holiday”. The book has opened to favourable reviews, see here. The plot summary as described in one such review is as follows:
“When Anant, [a law clerk] is invited to Bhairavgarh by his employer, the maverick New Delhi criminal court judge Justice Harish Shinde, the young law
clerk looks forward to a peaceful stay at the Judge’s friend’s home. It isn’t to be. Only days after he arrives, the tranquil hill-town is transformed into a seething hotbed of hostility. The cause is a controversial report on AIDS authored by Mittals, fellow guests at the house of Shikhar Pant. Small town morality wrestles big city urbanity as the people of Bhairavgarh protest against the report’s alleged obscenity. But within the house too, loyalties are divided. Matters come to a head when Pant’s cousin – a famous writer and supporter of the Mittals – is discovered stabbed to death. But with the police chasing all the wrong leads it’s up to the Judge to track down the murderer. Soon Anant finds himself legal counsel for the Mittals and an assistant sleuth to the Judge. His quiet holiday is going to be anything but.”
Sudarshan’s writing has been described as “simple, straightforward, unpretentious” even though the novel is “interspersed with legal terminologies” and compared with that of R.K. Narayanan and Arthur Conan Doyle. Sudarshan also received the H.M. Seervai Gold Medal for the “Best Essay in Constitutional Law” during his stint at NLS. Obviously, some people can combine good legal and fictional writing with ease. Keep it up Sudarshan!
