Title: Who is the Murderer?

Description

Panchkori Dey (also seen as Babu Panch Kori Dey, 1873–1945) was a Bengali writer of detective fiction, best known for two of his characters: Arindam Bosu, a dhoti-wearing detective working in India and Europe, and Jumelia, a cunning and wicked criminal. Dey was influenced by 19th-century European writers of criminal romances, such as Wilkie Collins and Emile Gaboriau. Hatyakari Ke? (Who is the murderer?) was first published in Bengali in about 1903; the edition presented here is a later Urdu translation. The plot revolves around a father who arranges his daughter’s marriage to a characterless boy out of greed, in defiance of the wishes of his family and friends. The social evil of arranged marriages, particularly the suffering of the girls involved, is a theme of the novel.