Arthur Conan Doyle turns 166: What Sherlock Holmes means to these 3 Indian mystery authors
Authored by: Soumya Duggal
Born over a century and a half ago, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was Victorian England's version of a multi-hyphenate. A physician, activist, social commentator and (later) Spiritualist, he was most well-known for his prolific writing career, giving the literary world one of its crown jewels: the razor-sharp but eccentric detective Sherlock Holmes. This 'master detective' archetype shaped the whodunnits of not only Golden Age writers Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers in the 1920s and '30s, but also Satyajit Ray decades later.
As Doyle turned 166 years old yesterday, we spoke to three Indian murder mystery novelists to unpack the enduring appeal of his Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories, especially as modern society challenges the imperialistic notions that shaped the art as well as the artist.
'I first discovered Doyle's novels when I was about 11 or 12. It was a mouldering, old hardback that I randomly picked off a shelf in my grandparents' home in Calcutta. I remember the sheer drama of the stories…the deadly herbs that induced madness (The Adventure of the Devil's Foot), the terror caused by curious dancing stick figures (The Adventure of the Dancing Men),' recalls author Samyukta Bhowmick, adding, 'Children love unsettling, thrilling stories — or at least I did.'
Young Bhowmick, enthralled by the vast world penned by Conan Doyle, enjoyed journeying from Mormon country in Utah to the Reichenbach Falls to the dark heart of Sussex, all from the comfort of her cosy bed. Now an author herself, she wrote A Fatal Distraction, published by Juggernaut in October 2024, which follows the unlikely journalist duo Mridula and Monami as they solve the death cases cropping up in the chaotic universe of Delhi tabloid journalism. The novel is a critical but entertaining take on the hypocrisies of media and high society.
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'The relationship between my detectives is similar to that of Holmes and Watson (and also Poirot and Hastings). My main character also shares some of Holmes's misanthropic tendencies and his sense of his own superiority,' Bhowmick says. 'But,' she further reflects on her own authorial position, 'as an Indian and a woman, I'm also writing a response to Golden Age fiction. It can't just be a homage. I don't occupy the same 'space' in the world as Doyle did, and my characters don't have the Victorian confidence and certainty of a Holmes or Watson.' It's a telling point, for Mridula and Monami are as curious and determined as they can be self-doubting and cautious, priming the readers to relate to and even empathise with the detective figure.
Author Divyaroop Bhatnagar, whose Mussoorie Murders was published by Om Books International in September 2023, also discovered the adventures of Sherlock Holmes rather young: 'My father was an aficionado of detective and crime fiction. He died young, but he left behind a vast collection of classic crime fiction. I started reading Conan Doyle probably around the age of 10 and must have reread his Sherlock Holmes stories dozens of times.'
Set in the Queen of Hills, Bhatnagar's narrative is built around twin murders, interwoven with a subplot featuring Doyle, Christie and Rudyard Kipling as characters. 'Holmes embodied the perfect example of an intellect sans emotion. Avijit Sikdar, the detective in my novel, shares similarities with Holmes. His love of order, immaculate sense of dress and even the tall, lean appearance are all reminiscent of the great master,' he states, adding, 'Yet, like Hercule Poirot, Sikdar is more human than Holmes.'
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'Doyle inspired a number of writers in India, most notably Satyajit Ray, whose Feluda is a self-confessed fan of Sherlock Holmes. The Holmesian mystique is strong and lasting. I see young people devouring his books even today,' affirms Bhatnagar.
According to Roy, Holmes' investigative process, ostensibly based on forensic acumen and dispassionate truth-seeking, drew upon ethnographic stereotypes of his time to demonise racial 'others' and played upon his readers' fears of alien contagions that might have travelled from the colonies. 'In A Study in Scarlet, The Adventure of the Devil's Foot and The Speckled Band, spaces like South America, Africa and India are represented through strangely horrific indigenous poisons (or even a poisonous snake), all of which are used in murders within England,' she elaborates.
Roy's first detective novel, Stroke of Death, published by Hachette India in September 2024, is set in colonised Bengal in the early twentieth century, fusing history and mystery with equal nuance. She concedes that it was initially difficult to ignore Doyle's literary influence while characterising her own detective figure, Inspector Dhananjoy Lahiri. 'Ultimately, though, my novel contains only an obligatory hat tip to Holmes, and distances itself from the long shadow cast by Doyle's creation. As such, Lahiri is someone whose rationality does not overwhelm his sensitivity. He is able to view justice as being far too complex to have simplistic, black-and-white solutions. Not surprisingly, he has read and rejected the Holmesian model of detection!'
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As calls for a progressive, compassionate and equitable society grow, especially in light of climate disasters and geopolitical tensions, it is interesting to rethink the essential traits of the detective. Bhowmick echoes Roy's views on adopting an investigative, critical lens into the archetypes and tropes of our literary past: 'India lurks in the background and subtext of the Holmes stories, imbued with imperialistic prejudices. But such assumptions are in direct contrast to the rational and scientific Holmesian temperament. But again, who can say that Holmes, a habitual user of mind-altering substances, was a purely rational creature — a creation of the head and not the heart?'
This might be one answer to the literary predicaments of our time: Should politically problematic 'masterpieces' be banished from the canon, and can art truly be separated from its artist? These questions have knocked down many a classic off its pedestal. And so, perhaps instead of dismissal, we could opt for engagement, full of conformities and departures, appreciation and criticism, pleasure and pain, in favour of an ever-evolving literary tradition.
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