Amidst the 48th International Kolkata Bookfair 2025's bibliomania, writer-journalist-academic Arindam Basu's thriller, “The Calcutta Covenant,” which compiles four novellas that depict fragments of historical timeline in a fictionalized manner, held its own.

While resorting to historical perspective, to make it more believable, the author has created a make-believe world filled with fictional characters for the protagonist Prithviraj Banerjee, where he can exist and roam freely unveiling deeply embedded facts beneath the surface.

Launching the book (published by Penprints India) whetting readers' curiosity and presence of some well-known Kolkata faces, the writer promised that the reader would remain glued to the fast-paced page-turner that "won’t let you get away with it."

The stories are filled with unexpected twists and turns that run into the historical pasts and walks out of it with equal ease.

"While a reader can come to enjoy the thrills of how history could come alive, he or she will constantly pace up and down between the past and present as the plot thickens with every page," says Basu speaking to IBNS.

In the midst of it all is Prithviraj Banerjee, a genius, cerebral, and debonair. He possesses the qualities of a sleuth and the IQ of a mastermind.

Basu  immerses the reader in the enigmatic world of Prithviraj Banerjee, who is an archeologist and paleontologist by profession, who travels across destinations with archeological findings and it just happens that whenever he visits, dead bodies turn up. As Basu puts it, “He is always at the wrong places at the right time.”

The four novellas The Calcutta Covenant, Perilous Puhar, The Gorakhpur Grudge and The Manor Mystery take you to a world that is laced with history and is yet a bubble of imagination.

Talking about the names, Basu said, “I have been a lifelong Feluda Fan. And the names are a tribute to one of my favourite characters from Ray’s world Lalmohan Ganguly, who always had an alliterative tone to his novels.”

Arindam Basu signs a copy of the book at the Kolkata book fair. Photo courtesy: Official FB

“Prithviraj Banerjee is not a mere detective but a seeker of truth that lies hidden beneath the menacing incidents submerged deep within the layers of society and the veneer of normalcy. He possesses a keen intellect, an insatiable curiosity that inspires him to unearth the sinister world that lurks in the shadows,” Basu said.

He sees the world go past as he scratches the surface to recognize the murkiness that streams under the peaceful facade of life.

With an uncanny ability and force to unveil the truth underneath the ominous secrets peeling off the layers of deception and falsity that transpire in the hidden nooks and corners of society, Prithviraj stands out as a disruptor of the false serenity of the world.

Basu delves deep into the eerie pasts, circumnavigates the events, analyses the links between occurrences, builds a make believe world and unveils the patterns that others miss. Thus his plot unravels the made up secrets concealed within the seemingly world of normalcy, and deciphers the patterns lacing terrifying incidents by compiling the missing fragments to get to the end of the story.

His perception of the world is that of a predator lurking in the shadows amid alluring darkness. He understands that the world is full of deceptive faces, dangerous traps, and ominous flashes of events.

“Prithviraj at his core is a seeker of justice who is driven by a deep sense of moral responsibility to uncover the truth and expose those who perpetrate evil and bring them to justice. He isn't frightened to stand up to the obscurity and dig into the profundities of human wickedness.

"Through his eyes, the world becomes a place of intrigue, a puzzle waiting to be solved. Mr. Banerjee’s methods are those of a master of deduction, analyzing the smallest details in a larger context of mystery. He studies and fathoms human behavior, and understands the subtle clues that betray a person’s true intentions,” Basu said.

Thus, Prithviraj is a complex and compelling character who embodies the spirit of truth-seeking in a world saturated by darkness. In this book he travels from the undulating hills of Ayodhya in Purulia to mystic Kurseong and then onto the upper reaches of Terai in Gorakhpur to the small town of Poompuhar set in the dark eerie Eastern Ghats solving mysteries and unraveling truths.

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