In fiction, you can be as crazy as you want, says author Aditya Sinha
Author Aditya Sinha was in Chandigarh to promote his latest murder mystery book, Death in the Deccan, featuring detective Mona Ramteke. Sinha explains that he is drawn to the crime-thriller genre and enjoys the freedom to be creative in fiction writing. He also mentions his familiarity with crime reporting and living in Hyderabad, which helped in researching and writing the book.
Author and former journalist Aditya Sinha was in Chandigarh on Tuesday to promote his latest book, Death in the Deccan, and interact with his readers.
Speaking about the book, which is a murder mystery, Sinha said, “It’s the second book that my character detective Mona Ramteke, of the Mumbai Police, is a part of. She is in Hyderabad this time and has been called in when four bodies are found in a newspaper office. They all look like they have died of simultaneous heart attacks so she digs deeper.”
On being asked why he chose the crime-thriller genre as most of his works so far are non-fiction, he said, “I have always been drawn to it. And I figured that in fiction, you can be as crazy as you want while in non-fiction you have to stick to the facts.”
“In fiction,” he added, “You can say a lot of things between the lines. Here you give a broader worldview.”
He further explained that he has always loved the genre. “My mother, a great fan of Agatha Christie, ensured that our house had all of her works. So I grew up reading that. And as I grew up, I further explored the crime fiction genre and read more works of writers from around the world and loved it.”
He believes that while some works, in this genre, are quite overrated, others haven’t received the recognition they deserve.
On the kind of research that went into writing the book, he said, “I’ve lived in Hyderabad for some time so was familiar with the area. And I started my career as a crime reporter in the late 1980s, so I had some familiarity with poisoning and stuff, and that helped a lot.”