Yellow is the colour of mystery!

Crime never goes out of fashion. And when it is brought back in bright yellow, all the more reason to curl up on rainy afternoons. A pot of tea and hot scones would be great too!

Hachette India recently released what they are calling a ‘retro revival’ series of thrillers and crime stories from the mid and late 19th century to the swinging 60s. ‘The Great YellowBacks’ series not only features favourites like Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Wallace Poe and Arsène Lupin but also brings to the limelight some lost gems such as The Crossword Mystery by E R Punshon, The Bells at Old Bailey by Dorothy Bowers and The Man In The Queue by Josephine Tey, among others. There are curated collections, omnibus treasures and forgotten original books that inspired great movies. In a press release, managing director of Hachette India Thomas Abraham said with the release of almost 200 titles, the revival traces the history of detective fiction through all the key genres “from classic crime to hard-boiled to noir to supernatural and occult detectives.” The books, the publishers inform, retain the distinctive size of the original ‘pocket’ mass-market paperback along with its unmistakable yellow jacket. Time to put those scones in the oven!