Malayali detective fiction, ‘Sherlock Holmes Namboothiri’, inspired by Sherlock Holmes

A detective called Sherlock Holmes Namboothiri. Curious? The character is the creation of G Sreekumar, a State Government employee, who has written a 300-odd page novel pivoted on the fictional detective. Namboothiri may well be Malayalam detective fiction’s first Malayali detective.

Until now, Mayalam detective fiction was not situated in Kerala. “I have done a lot of research, looking for a detective with the abilities of Holmes, there are none. That is when I thought of creating one,” says Sreekumar, an employee of the State Electrical Inspectorate (Ernakulam).

The inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes Namboothiri is his high school Chemistry teacher, Eswaran Namboothiri, “It is a dedication to my late teacher. As a teacher at Jayakeralam High School, Pulluvazhy, Perumbavoor, Eswaran sir thought of himself as an alchemist. His home was a laboratory for his many experiments,” says Sreekumar. He recalls seeing his his teacher drying the root of a plantain in his courtyard, which he later mixed with a chemical causing it to acquire a golden colour. “I saw a Sherlock Holmes in him,” adds Sreekumar.

The titular character is Prof Kalidasan Namboothiri, a private detective, who as a 12 year old, meets his mentor Moses Sherman. Later, when Moses dies, in an accident, Namboothiri gets suspicious prompting him to dig up his master’s grave. Much to his dismay, he finds the body intact without any sign of decay. The reason, he finds, is that a poison to kill germs had entered Moses’ body. As a result of his investigation the police conducts another post-mortem and arrests Sherman’s son and daughter. The police inspector in charge of the investigation calls him Sherlock Holmes.

The narrative style is similar to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s of narrating the story of Holmes via his aide, Dr Watson. Here it is through Dr Johnson, of the Armed Forces Medical Corps. The novel with many mysteries and intrigues ends with the message that greed for money and power bring misfortune. Sreekumar is pursuing a post-graduate degree in Criminology, which has helped him in writing the novel.

Sreekumar has been involved with literary activities for a while. After Masters in Communications and Journalism (MCJ) from the Kerala University, Sreekumar worked as a journalist. He has also been an associate of film directors such as Bhadran and Navodaya Jijo.

Bhaskara Menon, written in 1905, by Ramavarma Appan Thamburan is considered the first detective novel in Malayalam. It was possibly the first detective novel in Malayalam, since then various detective novels were published in the language which were largely adaptations and translations.

The book, published by Current Books (Thrissur) is priced ₹280 and is available online.