116 - Nev March - Murder in Old Bombay

General

Nev’s website:
https://nevmarch.com/

Follow Nev on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/nevmarch

Buy Nev’s first novel ‘Murder in Old Bombay’ here:
https://read.macmillan.com/lp/murder-in-old-bombay/

Pre-order the sequel ‘Peril at the Exposition’ here:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855039/perilattheexposition

The Rajabai Clock Tower deaths, upon which Nev’s novel is based:
https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/qrOhGQVncpDmnvio4RJx9O/The-mystery-of-the-clock-tower-deaths.html

Sample Vikas Adam’s reading of the book here:
https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Murder-in-Old-Bombay-Audiobook/1250775043

References

Sujata Massey:
https://sujatamassey.com/

Abir Mukherjee:
https://abirmukherjee.com/

Iona’s podcast with Dinyar Patel about the Indian independence pioneer Dadabhai Naoroji:
https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/99-dinyar-patel-dadabhai-naoroji-nationalist-pioneer

Nev’s account of visiting the Rajabai Clock Tower:
https://nevmarch.com/visit-to-the-tower

Interview with Nev by Marshal Zeringue, April 21 2021:
https://writerinterviews.blogspot.com/2021/04/nev-march.html

Sign up to Nazneen Engineer’s Zoroastrian survey:
https://survey.sogosurvey.com/survey1.aspx?k=RSsRQXYPPsTsPsPsP&lang=0

Timestamps

0:56 Introduction

3:04 Nev reads a passage from ‘Murder in Old Bombay’.

8:06 Nev discusses the historical details of the infamous Rajabai Clock Tower deaths and her knowledge of the story growing up. How the mysteriousness of the case intrigued her and inspired her to create a fictional detective and write a novel to ‘solve’ this old crime.

12:15 Nev’s love of the Sherlock Holmes stories and how this influenced her novel. Her other influences and the Easter eggs in the novel. Her protagonist, Captain Jim.

19:15 A comparison between Nev and other Raj-era historical fiction writers Sujata Massey and Abir Mukherjee.

24:33 Clashes of identity and problems of belonging in Nev’s novel, particularly around Parsi identity - and how this relates to Iona and Nev’s personal experiences. How dealing with such issues affected the novel.

32:29 Iona’s reading experience and Nev’s writing experience. The audio version of ‘Murder in Old Bombay’.

35:46 Nev’s style. The panoramic, cinematographic nature of Nev’s writing and scope. Comparison to Salman Rushdie - writers who span two cultures and who are concerned with hybridity.

37:27 Where/how did Nev plan and write the novel? Nev’s visit to the Rajabai Clock Tower and Iona’s memories of it from when she lived in Bombay.

45:22 Nev reads another passage from the book.

49:08 What did Nev mean when she said “Truly, we write to discover what we think” in an interview from last year? What did she discover she thought when writing her novel? Questions of identity and patriotism and Nev’s ‘middle ground’. Complexities and contradictions in human behaviour.

54:41 Good novels explore moments of tension and ambivalences in human nature.

55:40 Nev reads another passage from the book.

1:00:00 Iona reads a passage from the book.

1:05:50 Nev discusses the forthcoming sequel to ‘Murder in Old Bombay’, ‘Peril at the Exposition’. How the problems of the turn of the century period she sets her fiction in are reflected today. The types of historical events Nev is attracted to.

1:14:10 Nev reads another passage from the book.

1:19:50 Last words.