Madhulika Liddle

Madhulika Liddle (born 8 January 1973) is an Indian writer best known for her books featuring 17th century Mughal detective Muzaffar Jang.

Madhulika's first work to be published was a short story named Silent Fear, which won the Femina Thriller Contest in June 2001.

[3] Both editions received numerous favourable reviews, with Pradeep Sebastian of Business World[4] writing: "Its intimate picture of life in Emperor Shahjahan's Dilli resembles a delicate Mughal miniature…" and Zac O'Yeah of Deccan Herald[5] describing the book's "originality and freshness" as its strongest point.

These stories are set against varying backdrops, including the Imperial Atelier, a traditional Mughal garden, the sarai built by the Princess Jahanara in Delhi, and the Royal Elephant Stables.

When a wealthy and influential merchant named Mumtaz Hassan is murdered, the Diwan-e-Kul, Mir Jumla (who is in Agra, en route to the Deccan, where he's been sent on a campaign) assigns Muzaffar the task of finding the culprit.

The novel starts with recalling Mughal army's siege of Bidar in the Deccan, and introduces Muzaffar Jang as the brother-in-law of the Kotwal of Dilli.

The novel weaves through historical landmarks of Mughal-era Dilli while showcasing the ability of Muzaffar Jang in solving a series of murders in his neighbourhood, as well as other unconnected crimes, including the abduction of a moneylender's infant son, and the death of a wealthy nobleman in the bath house he himself had built.

Interestingly, the unconnected episode of abduction of the moneylender's infant son is used as a commentary upon the tense relations between Muslims and Hindus during the Mughal era (and, obliquely, in the contemporary times as well).

The author comments: "it was odd, he (Muzaffar Jang) thought, that a man could be on the one hand praised to the skies, and on the other, not even considered human enough to share food with."