Where Is Peter and Other Stories: Mystery Short Stories

By Indrasish Banerjee

Where Is Peter and Other Stories is a collection of mystery short stories revolving around the characters of the DeCosta family. Although each story has a standalone plotline, the reader will be left pleasantly surprised by the reappearance of the characters they met in earlier stories. Devoid of any thematic connection or a chronological order, the stories provide snippets of the lives of various members of the DeCosta family slowly forming a family portrait.

Each story in the collection takes the reader by surprise by unpredictability of events and outcomes. In one of them, a family get-together fails to take off due to the absence of a family member who never arrives. In another, a cat, privy to the goings-on of the family of its benefactor, constantly feels the presence of the benefactor many years after it saw him brought to the house in a hearse. The reader will heave a sigh of relief, following a stab of horror, when Mary realizes that the woman she sees at the theatre is not the same woman she is running away from.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: May 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482873108

Indrasish Banerjee

Indrasish grew up and studied in Calcutta (India) and has been working in different parts of the country for many years now. He is an IT professional, and writing has always been his passion. He has published his articles in many Indian dailies and some short stories. His writing style is simple, and he likes to experiment with a wide range of subjects. Indrasish has been staying in Bangalore for 10 years and has collected the ideas for this collection from different people and experiences he considers himself lucky to have met, heard of and been through, in the city. The ideas have been developed into stories with such dexterity as to blur the line between reality and fiction.

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Copyright © 2016 by Indrasish Banerjee.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

Where is Peter?

The Lady in the Portrait

Hello, I am Pussy the Cat

Catching the Clouds in Kankori

At the Theatre

Where is Peter?

A Honda City drew up in front of Peter DE Costa’s house. Phillip, Peter’s elder son, a computer engineer working with a multinational, got down followed by his wife Sushma clutching their 10 month old daughter, Joanne. Across the garden, Mary stood on the portico to greet them. Saturday was a special day for the De Costas. Every Saturday, the whole family, now staying in different parts of Bangalore, descended on the De Costa house.

This Saturday, however, the family gathering would be without Noel, the youngest of Peter’s brood who was in Mumbai for a day or two with a close friend, John. Rosy, the daughter, generally joined a little later and by the time Rosy would be at the De Costa’s with her husband and their two year old son, Peter would also join the family. And that would be roughly two hours after Phillip came in.

As Sushma went into the kitchen to help Mary with the dinner, Phillip settled into the sofa and switched on the TV. Joanne, sitting next to Phillip on the sofa and playing with the doll Peter had bought for her from the market in the morning suddenly craned her neck upon hearing a pattering sound. As she looked out of the window, Peter started his scooter and sped off. Grandpa will join us later, dad? she asked. Yes, Joanne, Phillip said affectionately messing up her hair.

"Mom, at least on Saturdays,