Nilanjana Roy is an Indian novelist, literary critic and journalist based in Delhi. She writes about books and reading for the Financial Times and has reported on gender and violence against women for the New York Times. She also helped establish the Indian publishing house Westland Books as its first chief editor. Her crime novel “Black River” draws on her reporting in New Delhi and the surrounding states. Set in the village of Teetarpur near Delhi, it begins with the murder of a young girl. Suspicion quickly falls on a homeless Muslim man in the predominantly Hindu community, and a police officer must uncover the truth before the villagers resort to vigilante violence. Shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s Gold Dagger in 2024, the novel follows both the investigation and the grief surrounding the murder, examining how religious prejudice and social inequality shape suspicion, punishment and access to justice.
