A crime thriller for International Clean Air Day on Delhi’s November Toxic Air
Rajesh Talwar, the best-selling author of 37 books and a legal advisor to the UN on Human Rights, is set to release his new crime thriller, The Killings In November: A Play on Toxic Terror, (Bridging Border), on 7 September 2024, coinciding with the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. This thrilling play tackles a major issue with a captivating story that explores why November has become the most dangerous month in the NCR region, turning it into a gas chamber, and questions the recent changes causing Delhi’s air to become toxic.
The story features two of the world’s greatest detectives, Col Ranjeet and Herlock Holms, as they investigate a series of murders that happen every November in New Delhi. With its many twists and a dramatic ending, the plot is sure to captivate readers. Talwar’s previous work, The Judiciary on Trial, received high praise from Khushwant Singh, who featured it prominently in his column ‘With Malice Towards One and All,’ recommending it as must reading. The Killings In November tackles important issues affecting urban areas in India and beyond. Before its paperback release, the play was performed by Delhi University students at the Lok Kalyan Manch in New Delhi.
More on the book
A sceptre is haunting Delhi. Powerful forces appear to have colluded to perpetuate its domination.
A killer is on the loose in New Delhi. He is no ordinary killer, and for the past few years, for some unaccountable reason goes on a relentless killing spree, every year in November. Always elegantly dressed in a grey suit and a red tie, our assassin is a stylish, soft-spoken man, fond of Western music. He carries a guitar with him and performs to an often-unwilling audience of victims. On occasions, he has been spotted by witnesses inside a steel grey Mercedes near the site of a killing. The killer is merciless. No one is spared it seems, be it a pregnant mother, a young boy, an elderly man, or even a baby.
The Delhi Police are at their wits end and seek outside help. India’s leading detective, Col Ranjeet teams up with the famous Herlock Holms to try and crack this case. It is the biggest case that has come to either the Colonel or Holms in each detective’s illustrious career. Will they catch this elusive killer, or will he catch them? With murders mounting each passing day, the stakes could not be higher. This is a heart-rending tale of life – and death – as it exists in one of Asia’s most important capital cities.
No spoilers here, the story will keep readers guessing till slowly all is revealed. The play ends with a shattering climax.
About the author
Rajesh Talwar has written on a variety of themes ranging from social justice to law and culture for international and national magazines, newspapers, and websites including The Guardian, The Times of India, CNN- News 18, Scroll, The Indian Express, The Economic Times, The New Indian Express, the Pioneer, and Sunday Observer. He has been interviewed on social issues and his books by The New York Times, Sahitya Tak (from the India Today Group and Anand Bazaar Patrika (ABP) Live
His non-fiction works range from books on legal literacy and human rights to those on the sacred feminine and world culture. His most notable book on judicial reform ‘The Judiciary on Trial,’ (Cosmos Publications, Delhi; 2002) was reviewed and applauded by no less than the Late Khushwant Singh, veteran journalist, and commentator. A book on hijras titled ‘The Third Sex and Human Rights’ was extracted and used as the lead story in The Asian Age’s Sunday Supplement.
More recently, Rajesh Talwar wrote the best-selling ‘Courting Injustice: The Nirbh
Talwar is also a playwright who has focussed on social themes. He is the author of a 2002 satire on the law criminalising homosexuality (Inside Gayland), a play on dowry deaths (The Bride Who Would Not Burn), and a play on AIDS (High Fidelity Transmission). In 2016 he wrote ‘Gandhi, Ambedkar and the Four-Legged Scorpion’ a historical play on Gandhi and Ambedkar in the context of their differing attitudes towards the evil of untouchability. His play ‘Kaash Kashmir’ (2017) examines the conflict in the valley.
His books for children include The Boy Who Wrote a Constitution, The Three Greens, The Bearded Prince, The Sleepless Beauty, Fabulous Four Battle Zoozoo, the Wizard and Playwrights- A One-Act Play for Children on Human Rights.
Rajesh Talwar has served the United Nations for over two decades across three continents including in senior-level positions. He has worked as an Executive Officer heading the Human Rights Advisory Panel with the UN in Kosovo, as a Legal Adviser to the Police Commissioner for the UN in East Timor, and as a Deputy Legal Adviser with the UN in Afghanistan. He continues to work as an international consultant on justice, human rights, and policymaking.
