Murder in Mahim-Jerry Pinto

Book: Murder in Mahim

Author: Jerry Pinto

Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books

Can a story have a single storyline, yet cover multiple facets of human emotions?

Murder in Mahim by Jerry Pinto does precisely this. A young man is found dead in the toilet of Matunga Road Railway station, killed in a gruesome way. Through his friendship with Inspector Jende of the Mumbai Police, Retired Journalist Peter Fernandes joins the investigation. What unfolds is not just a criminal investigation, but introduces Peter to a world of secret desire, greed and desire, and he fears his son maybe a part of this. Peter and Inspector Jende try to unravel the threads of the crime, with Leslie Sequeira, his guide into this world.

Murder in Mahim was a powerful read. On the surface, it feels like a murder mystery and that a cop and a civilian are on a quest to unravel it, but as one moves along the story, many themes emerge. The first of which is the stigma around homosexuality and how we react to it. Taking up that as the centre piece of the story, Jerry, through Peter, explores the journey of knowing about the world, initial stigma and eventual acceptance. They also explore the world where men seek out men and his exploration of the world. The investigation has been shown in detail, along with the quirks of the Indian investigation system, and how Peter’s ideas work out for it. The climax was interesting and the way the entire story ties up in the end is worthy of an applause.

Coming to the characters, Jerry has sketched very quintessential Mumbai characters. Peter and Millie are typical middle-Class Indian people, with a simple idea of life and that includes staying away from trouble. Inspector Jende is shown to be an honest cop and Jerry comments this as being an aberration, thus creating a twinge of sarcasm while he does this. Coming to Leslie Sequiera, he seems to be a wonderful character that added a different flavor to the story, and you might just find someone like him strolling down the streets of Bandra. Unit as a character amazed me because of the fluctuations in his shades and how things unfolded for him as well. Last, but not the least, Jerry has used Mumbai as a character and while describing the city, we see the city come to life.

Overall, it was an amazing read and a definite recommendation.

This book scores a 4.5/5 from me.

Grab a copy here!