The Complete Adventures of Feluda: Volume I (88 page)

I have been an avid reader of crime fiction for a very long time. I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories while still at school. When I revived the children’s magazine
Sandesh
which my grandfather launched seventy-five years ago, I started writing stories for it. The first Feluda story—a long-short—appeared in 1965. Felu is the nickname of Pradosh Mitter, private investigator. The story was told in the first person by Felu’s Waston—his fourteen-year-old cousin Tapesh. The suffix ‘da’ (short for ‘dada’) means an elder brother.

Although the Feluda stories were written for the largely teenaged readers of
Sandesh,
I found they were being read by their parents as well. Soon longer stories followed—novelettes—taking place in a variety of picturesque settings. A third character was introduced early on: Lalmohan Ganguli, writer of cheap, popular thrillers. He serves as a foil to Felu and provides dollops of humour.

When I wrote my first Feluda story, I scarcely imagined he would prove so popular that I would be forced to write a Feluda novel every year. To write a whodunit while keeping in mind a young readership is not an easy task, because the stories have to be kept ‘clean’. No illicit love, no
crime passionel,
and only a modicum of violence. I hope adult readers will bear this in mind when reading these stories.

Calcutta
February 1988

Satyajit Ray

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First published by Penguin Books India 2000

www.penguinbooksindia.com

This rejacketed edition published 2015

Copyright © The Estate of Satyajit Ray 2000, 2004

This translation copyright © Penguin Books India 2000, 2004

Cover illustration by Sukanto Debnath

Cover design by Aparajita Ninan

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ISBN: 978-0-143-42503-8

This digital edition published in 2015.
e-ISBN: 978-9-352-14115-9

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