Indo-British author Vish Dhamija's first published work came out in 2010 and since then he has written eight novels, in crime and legal fiction genre. The gritty and often dark tales set in the underbelly of Indian cities have all the ingredients that can keep you on the edge of your seat, as DCP, Mumbai Police Rita Ferreira goes about investigating serial killers and a diamond burglary. Any surprises here that the Rita Ferreira series has been picked up by Abundantia Entertainment to be streamed as a webseries? The Harper Black (imprint of HarperCollins) took the opportunity to repackage and relaunch the three books — Bhendi Bazaar, Doosra and Lipstick.
SHE MEANS BUSINESS
What makes Dhamija's Rita interesting are her quirks, her efficiency and ruthlessness. The 30-something detective has made a place for herself in the male-dominated police force. There are many who were apprehensive about a woman doing a ‘man’s job’. But the fact that she did it with ruthless precision and energy — that helped solve cases that otherwise looked like dead ends — earned her the respect of her team and her bosses alike.
Rita is the quintessential modern woman who is in love with her job, is single (well, almost), and lives alone in the city that never sleeps. She is a workaholic who loves her Jim Beam. Her character is refreshingly modern and her take on relationships is, not surprisingly, practical. She is a tough woman, no doubt, but that doesn’t mean she is devoid of emotions.
Full marks to Dhamija for introducing us to a tough lady cop in an already small pool of female detectives in Indian crime-fiction genre. She is a real woman, navigating through real life problems. And while we are at it, she is also one of the many working young working women who pay zero attention to food and nutrition. Rujuta Diwekar would have some very stern words for Rita, if the two ever meet.
THE TECHNO GAP
Dhamija wrote Bhendi Bazaar in 2008 and Doosra was published in 2016, with Lipstick out in 2019. At a time when technology and methods of investigation change every season, these three books have spanned a decade which glare at you as investigation proceeds in each book.
You will see Rita scrambling to ‘sms’ her colleague in Bhendi Bazaar while you wonder why photographs of the suspects were not shared via smartphones in Doosra. It is only in Lipstick that you will find the cops tracking social media profiles of suspects and using WhatsApp —an app that has made everyday work for the police extremely easy today.
No, we aren’t asking for 007-ish gadgets and control rooms — just realistic video calls between lovers and WhatsApp ‘pings’ among team members. Maybe it is a security thing, we’ll figure it out in Rita Ferriera No 4.
THE CRIME GRAPH
In Bhendi Bazar, Rita chases down a serial killer responsible for deaths of men who went seeking the ‘services’ of girls in Mumbai. Who knew it was somehow related to the disappearance of three Russian teenage girls back in the 80s! The second one in the Rita Ferriera series, Doosra, saw the Goan cop crack a high profile case that was brought to Mumbai police by the Interpol. They were looking for an Indian national in a diamond burglary-turned-murder case. But the suspect was residing in India, had never travelled abroad, hell, he didn’t even have a passport.
In Lipstick she is up against a psychopath. There’s a serial killer out there, who has murdered three women using the same modus operandi. Gagged, tied to the bed, a dog collar around their neck that caused the death by asphyxiation, and grossly violated in the most brutal manner. The killer certainly takes BDSM to another level. Also, he likes to apply lipstick on his victim’s lips, before biting them off. He then bleaches any residue of his DNA off the wounded lips.
Rita is up against a psychopath termed Lipstick Killer, and her job is to find this sick man before he strikes again. He does, claiming his fourth victim, teasing the police team to pull up their socks. A team, that has the likes of Senior Inspector Vikram Patil, Inspector Jatin, Inspector Harry (Harish Chandra Bhatawdekar) and the Mathur duo — a combo that had helped Rita crack two high-pressure cases in the past.
Serial killings, murder at burglary site, and then back to serial killings — that makes 66 per cent of Rita’s cases starkly ‘similar but dissimilar’. Though Lipstick is by far the best of the lot, it is little off putting that book No 1 and No 3 have similar sub plots. Time to change the MO maybe?
The author said that Lipstick was ‘darkest than the previous two’, and yes, he has delivered on that front. The crime fiction readers will enjoy reading references to famous cases around the world, be it diamond burglary or serial killings in Dhamija’s writings. While we wait for an Indian female detective kick some ass on our screens, we’ll let Rita Ferreira crack her next case.
Titles: Bhendi Bazar, Doosra and Lipstick
Author: Vish Dhamija
Publisher: Harper Black
Pages: 300 plus
Price: Rs 299 each
