HarperCollins Announces Anita Nair’s Thrilling New Book

ANITA NAIR IS BACK WITH A RIVETING NEW CRIME THRILLER

THE THIRD INSTALMENT OF THE INSPECTOR GOWDA SERIES

HOT STAGE

By Anita Nair

Releasing in December 2023

HarperCollins India is delighted to announce the acquisition of Anita Nair’s new urban crime thriller in the Inspector Gowda series featuring the honest and hardnosed police detective and a fast-paced plot which gives the readers a deep and disturbing look into the underbelly of the modern Indian city of Bangalore.

Hot Stage is the keenly anticipated next instalment in this acclaimed series of Indian police procedurals, which promises to be not just an engrossing read but also one that unravels the psychological and political underpinnings of crime in contemporary India.

About Hot Stage

When Professor Mudgood is found dead in his home by his daughter, it is considered a natural death. After all, he was 82 years old, and ailing. But Borei Gowda, who is now Assistant Commissioner of Police in the force, isn’t so certain. It therefore doesn’t come as a surprise to him when the initial investigation reveals it to be a homicide and he is proven right.

All the evidence points to a political murder, since the professor was a well-known rationalist and a fervent critic of right-wing forces in India. But the more Gowda delves into the details,

the more convinced he becomes that while the professor’s killing has been stage-managed to look like a political murder there is something more sinister to it – and Gowda has no other option but to take a calculated risk to infiltrate this sinister world.

Like the first two novels in the series, Hot Stage is set in Bangalore and is an intense exploration of a man and a city that exists on multiple levels. Rich in detail and taut with action, this fast-paced new Gowda novel will set your pulse racing from page one.

Talking about her upcoming novel, ANITA NAIR said, ‘Writing a Gowda novel is both a harrowing experience, as I do the fieldwork and research myself, and immensely satisfying as it all falls into place with a life force of its own. For all the Gowda fans I’ve kept in limbo for so long, I hope the wait was worth it, for this one will take you by surprise!’

POULOMI CHATTERJEE, Publisher at HarperCollins India, said, ‘As atmospheric as they are intriguing, Borei Gowda’s previous trysts with crime have thrilled readers in equal measure. We’re delighted to be publishing Hot Stage, in which Anita Nair takes us once again into a murky world where there are neither rules nor mercy. The shocking twists that Gowda has to navigate in Hot Stage are certain to keep readers intently hooked and entertained.’

Praise for Borei Gowda

‘[Anita] Nair introduces us to a police detective who is commonplace, human, a man one can relate to… All the time, without letting go of the fact that Gowda is the true protagonist.’ – India Today

‘By the author’s own admission, she seeks to push her literary boundaries and that is evident in this new book and its unexpected “hero”—one very likely to be a recurrent character in a future series. The unglamorously named Inspector Borei Gowda literally pops out of the pages at you, and by the finish, is so lifelike that you have his entire appearance and personality mentally mapped out.’ – Khaleej Times

‘…in his own way, he [Gowda] is nearly as marginalized as some of the more extreme cases he encounters, and if this book leads to a full-fledged series (as the “Introducing Inspector Gowda” on the cover implies it will) much of its pleasure should come from watching this man patrol the mean streets of his city, dealing with his own urban alienation as well as those of his quarries – and perhaps in wondering how thin that line between mild unrest and full-blown psychosis really is.’ – Sunday Guardian

‘Meet Inspector Borei Gowda… He manages to shine a light on a might-have-been you wish was: a cop you can trust.’ – The Hindu

About the Author

Anita Nair is one of India’s most acclaimed authors. Her oeuvre ranges from literary fiction to noir to children’s literature to translation. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages around the world. Anita is the recipient of several prizes and honours including the Indian National Film Award in 2013, the Central Sahitya Akademi award and the Crossword Prize. She is the founder of the creative writing mentorship programme Anita’s Attic. She is also a High-Profile Supporter of the UNHCR.

About HarperCollins India

HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet. HarperCollins India is now the recipient of five Publisher of the Year Awards – In 2021 and 2015 at the Publishing Next Industry Awards, and in 2021, 2018 and 2016 at Tata Literature Live. HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers.

For more information and queries, please write to: Shabnam.Srivastava@harpercollins.co.in