On 4th August 2024, I got the chance to attend the book launch of Best Selling Author Siddhartha Maheshwari’s next book. A classic whodunit with a touch of Siddhartha’s unique ideas, this book promises to be a masterpiece that will reel you in with its cover, plot and illustrations (That’s right! It has illustrations!) 

The launch was a huge success with a packed house and enthusiastic readers dying to get Mr Maheshwari’s autograph. The session moderated by his best friend Abhijai Singh, Venture Capital Investment Head at Midas Capital, helped us get to know not only the book but also the author. 

The book is a gift from Mr Maheshwari to his mother, who is a huge fan of Agatha Christie. It was his love for her and her favourite author that motivated Mr Maheshwari to push boundaries and try a genre different from his past espionage thrillers. The best part is that she has loved reading the book and promises that it will delight all Agatha Christie and Siddhartha Maheshwari fans.

The readers were a little shocked by the revelation of who is the victim during the session as Abhijay and a reader couldn’t stop themselves from revealing the same. (Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of doing that to my readers). 

During the session we also got another surprise, the illustrations in the book are a contribution of Siddhartha’s wife, Mrs Sakshi. These illustrations have captured my attention ever since Siddhartha had posted them on his Instagram account as a part of the promotional activities and I can’t wait to finally add context to them.

The discussion revealed that Mr Maheshwari had to work his hardest on Jahangir, who also happens to be the protagonist. Writing about such a contrasting personality, who is devoted to his family yet a little too controlling, challenged his wit to no end. He also shared that the character he most related to was Sanaya, because of her artistic inclination, however we will find parts of Mr Mashewari scattered in all the characters. The author did get a little candid when asked about his family and friends and which characters they inspired but we are hoping to figure it out as we read.

As the ground opened for questions and answers, we also got to know that the titles of all the chapters are based on nursery rhymes. Though the author did not reveal whether this adds to the mystery, I am quite thrilled to uncover their reasoning. 

As Mr Manik from the publisher, Paper Towns, showed through a fun activity, the team has worked hard to maintain the mystery of the book and the readers are going to be bombarded with mind-baffling questions. They showed us a unique code, that we had to decode during the launch. Let’s see if you will be able to do the same! Share your responses in the comments! 

I’ll take your leave here, as I leave you to decode this number and buy your copy of the book as soon as possible! I can’t wait to dig into my copy of the book.