Author Spotlight: Shakuntala Banaji

Set in contemporary India, this gripping literary suspense novel explores the mindsets and paranoia of individuals caught up in the search for a savage killer, but finding along the way seduction, self doubt, and redemption. Truth Lake was shortlisted for the Debut Dagger, and will appeal to readers with an interest in exciting locations, detective fiction and those who enjoy top notch prose. In the sweltering heat of a Delhi summer, Sara and Adam, two British backpackers, arrive in Delhi in a state of fear and exhaustion. Their story is deceptively simple: trekking near an isolated lake in the high Himalayas, they have encountered a forest village full of hostile women, and stumbled on a grotesque corpse, almost certainly a White male. Their host in Delhi is Antonio Sinbari, an expat Italian tycoon with an interest in acquiring Himalayan land for his latest development project. He insists that acting police chief Hàrélal should investigate, and do it discreetly. Hàrélal who is beset by personal demons – his fiesty daughter Tanya, a desire to be promoted – agrees. A suspicious foreign death in India does not look good for anyone. Propelled by police chief Hàrélal’s ambition, and a sense that the young tourists have lied about their misadventure in the mountains, maverick detective Kailash Karmel finds himself en route to the Himalayas, to a village called Saahitaal. Truth Lake. It is there in the pouring monsoon rain, surrounded by lonely women, and maddened by a growing infatuation for one of his suspects, that Karmel’s morbid investigation will trigger violence, paranoia, and another murder.