The House of Fear
Encyclopedia
The House of Fear is the first English translation of the Ibne Safi's much celebrated Urdu
novel Khaufnaak Imaraat that was first published in 1955. It is published by Random House
and translated by Bilal Tanweer. It also carries another novella Shootout at the Rocks. Both feature the stock character Imran
, Ibne Safi, whose actual name was Asrar Narvi, wrote about 122 novels under this Imran Series
.. In the first story, the protagonist finds dead people in an empty house with three knife wounds each placed at exactly five inches. The hero who is considered an idiot by his secret-service colleagues solves the case in his own unique way between poetic recitations of Ghalib and praises of Indian film heroines. In the second story, a colonel called Zargham receives mysterious wooden animal-shaped toys, that we find later, are signature of Li Yu Ka, a two hundred years old brotherhood of deadly killers, and very soon the man is the thick of big trouble from which only the legendary Imran can be of any help.
The book cover has a controversial quotation by Agatha Christie
that claims that the mystery queen acknowledged Safi's monopoly over originality in the genre
.
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
novel Khaufnaak Imaraat that was first published in 1955. It is published by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
and translated by Bilal Tanweer. It also carries another novella Shootout at the Rocks. Both feature the stock character Imran
Ali Imran
Ali Imran is a fictional character in various Urdu language detective novels written by Asrar Ahmed under the pseudonym of Ibn-e-Safi. He serves as the titular protagonist in the Imran Series novels...
, Ibne Safi, whose actual name was Asrar Narvi, wrote about 122 novels under this Imran Series
Imran Series
Imran Series is one of the best-selling Urdu spy novels series created by Pakistani writer Ibn-e-Safi. The first novel, Khaufnaak Imarat , was published in October 1955. Early books in the series are complete novels...
.. In the first story, the protagonist finds dead people in an empty house with three knife wounds each placed at exactly five inches. The hero who is considered an idiot by his secret-service colleagues solves the case in his own unique way between poetic recitations of Ghalib and praises of Indian film heroines. In the second story, a colonel called Zargham receives mysterious wooden animal-shaped toys, that we find later, are signature of Li Yu Ka, a two hundred years old brotherhood of deadly killers, and very soon the man is the thick of big trouble from which only the legendary Imran can be of any help.
The book cover has a controversial quotation by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
that claims that the mystery queen acknowledged Safi's monopoly over originality in the genre
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
.