Meet the author - Leela Soma

I recently had a great chat with author Leela Soma about her new crime novel Murder at the Mela, and I'm delighted to be able to share that here on my blog. 

Leela's novel is set in Glasgow and features the newly promoted DI, Alok Patel. He and his team are faced with solving a nasty murder when a young woman's body is found under the bushes in Kelvingrove Park. But let Leela tell us a bit more about it!

Murder at the Mela eBook: Soma, Leela: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

CMcK: Hi Leela. I’ve just finished reading your latest novel, Murder at the Mela, which was published by Ringwood in November 2020. I loved it and am looking forward to hearing all about it and the writing process. First of all, what’s the Mela of the title?

 

LS: Mela is a Sanskrit word that means ‘a gathering’ ‘ a fair’ . It could be for religious, business or to meet up for cultural reasons. This year, 2020, we are celebrating 30 years of the Mela in Glasgow. What started as a tiny ‘gathering’ of the Asian community in 1990, soon became an annual ‘fair’ for all of Glasgow and Scotland. I think the Glasgow Mela is to Glasgow what The Notting Hill Carnival is to London.

 

CMcK: Give us a quick summary of the plot, and the main character, DI Alok Patel – the new man in town.

 

LS: Alok Patel is an ambitious young police officer who has just been promoted to Detective Inspector and the novel starts with his first murder case that he has to solve. Nadia Ahmad’ s body is found at Kelvingrove Park, where the Mela was held. Was it a racist murder or an honour killing? As the story unfolds, the reader gets a glimpse of not only whodunnit, but also the life of Asians in Glasgow and their interactions with the host community.

 

 CMcK: The book is set in Glasgow, in 2015. Was it important to you to choose these setting details?

 

LS: It had to be Glasgow the city I know intimately and have lived here all my adult life. Why 2015? I have been writing this book for a few years and that year was important for also plot purposes.

 

CMcK: This is your first crime novel and you really keep the reader guessing till the end to find out ‘whodunnit’.  Did that complex plotting come easily to you? Did you enjoy the challenge?! 

 

LS: It took me years to get the craft of writing a crime novel just right! My previous two books were general fiction. This had to be well planned, the red herrings plausible and the plot tight enough to make it a real whodunnit. I enjoyed the challenge but it did take me quite a few attempts and getting expert advice from real policemen, to get it right.

 

CMcK:  As well as being a page-turner, Murder at the Mela features strong social commentary, conveyed very naturally through the warmth of the characters. You introduce the religious divisions in the Asian community, and you also show the plight of some disadvantaged characters in Glasgow. How important was it to you for your novel to be socially aware like this?

 

LS:  My earlier novels have always reflected the society in which we live. The tensions between Asians in Glasgow, who are not a homogenous group, had to be addressed. Many readers are not aware of such differences. As for the disadvantaged, they are part of our society and writing about their plight was important to me. I hope it also made the plot more interesting.

 

CMcK: What about influences? Who are your favourite novelists and crime novelists?

 

LS: That is a hard question to answer. In India the popular crime writers when I was growing up were Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle. Contemporary Scottish crime writers have been Ian Rankin, Alex Gray and Val McDermid. I must read more crime fiction, but I also love world literature so I am always lacking time to indulge in both.

 

CMcK: Murder at the Mela introduces us to a cast of very appealing characters. Can we look forward to a sequel?

LS: I have an outline for DI PATEL 2 but the pandemic has not been very conducive to writing. At least for me. Zoom events and promoting this novel have kept me busy. Perhaps in 2021, I will sit down to write it.

CMcK: I hope so! You’re a prolific poet and have published two other novels. Tell me a bit about them.

 

LS: Poetry is a completely different skill. It comes from the subconscious, I am not able to pinpoint what drives me to pen them, but I get enormous satisfaction from seeing the verses on the page once it is written and rewritten.

The other two novels were almost a mission. I am a voracious reader and looking around the bookshelves of any bookstore I found it hard (even now) to see many books by Scottish Asian writers. I felt I had to try and share our experiences too and hope that younger generations will continue to fill this void.

 

Leela Soma

CMcK: What made you want to become a writer?

 

LS:  I have always loved reading. As you can see from the answer above I wanted to write down our stories. I enrolled in classes at Glasgow University Adult Continuing Education on Creative Writing classes and found that I enjoyed writing. When I took early retirement I found that I have more time both to write and to procrastinate.

 

CMcK: Could you give us links to your website, and other sources where we can find your work?

 

LS:  My website is: https://leelasoma.wordpress.com/ 

Twitter :@Glasgowlee

Facebook and Insta : Leela Soma. 

Books are all available on Amazon, Waterstones and the new one from Ringwood Publishing.

https://www.ringwoodpublishing.com/product/murder-at-the-mela-pre-order-now/

 

CMcK: Thanks so much for giving us these insights into Murder at the Mela!

 

LS: Thank you for having me on your blog. It’s been a pleasure. And your book Incunabulum is a superb read.

CMcK: Awww, thanks!