Secret history

Terror on the Titanic is the first book in Basu’s Morningstar Agency Adventures series,which will probably run into at least five books,he tells us. Although not all of them will feature the same protagonists,each book will be edited by ‘Mr Morningstar,’ and will be set in different eras in world history. As the series progresses,it will shed more light on the ways in which the Agency has shaped the world. “The Morningstar Agency will remind you of several other mysterious organisations,real and fictitious,” explains Basu,“the Illuminati,the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,MI6,the CIA — but it’s not really based on any of these.” As for the mysterious Mr Morningstar,readers will meet him again,although through the eyes of his various agents and through the footnotes supplied at the bottom of each page. “No matter what era each book is set in and what the protagonist is like,the footnotes give us the voice of Mr Morningstar,and tell the story of the Agency as a whole,through the course of history.”

Terror on the Titanic is loaded with references to other books and movies—the narrator,Nathaniel Brown,is the son of Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli (there are some delicious references to Kipling himself),while his partner Genevieve Lupin is the daughter of ace gentleman thief,Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin. “I wanted the protagonists to have famous fathers to set them more firmly in the period. Parents are always important in any story featuring teenagers. And the references don’t drive the story; they’re there mostly for adult readers,and aren’t essential for following the plot or loving the characters,”reveals Basu. But the most delightful of such references is made to James Cameron’s epic movie,Titanic,whose star-struck lovers form a subplot of the novel with even the mysterious gemstone forming a part of their story. “I’d planned it right from the beginning,” Basu reveals.