Meenakshi Lekhi pens debut novel, to release on July 8

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi has written her debut novel, which talks of undercurrents of Delhi's political landscape and attempts to lay bare what is influencing the course of the nation's political trajectory.

The New Delhi Conspiracy, co-authored with Krishna Kumar and published by HarperCollins India, is slated for release on July 8.

According to the publishers, the book, which is set amid the current sociopolitical context, has an unusual storyline, full of intrigue and adventure that shifts from Hong Kong to Delhi.

Speaking about her book, Lekhi says, This is my first foray into writing fiction and I'm very excited about it. Fiction is a format that reaches a much wider readership, and with my busy work schedule, collaboration was the natural direction to take for the book. I'm happy that, with Krishna as my co-author, it has truly shaped up the way that I wanted it to.

Lekhi, a Lok Sabha member from Delhi and a Supreme Court lawyer, says she's a little restive to see how her book is received by the reader.

On his first attempt at collaborative-writing, Kumar, who works with the Lok Sabha Secretariat, says, Writing fiction in a collaborative form, where narration and style both need to be seamless, was a challenge, and I hope we've pulled it off well. The biggest USP of The New Delhi Conspiracy' is its scintillating storyline that is both entertaining as well as informative.

Krishan Chopra, publisher at HarperCollins India, dubs The New Delhi Conspiracy as a thriller with a difference.

"Alongside an edge-of-the-seat plot, it reveals the undercurrents of politics today in Lutyens' Delhi in a way few books have done, and shows how important it is to bridge that divide of suspicion and mistrust.

The book talks of a malicious man with a dangerous agenda, an assassin on a diabolical mission, a courageous politician on a treacherous trail and a conspiracy that will shake the nation.

When a scientist is shot to death in front of politician Vedika Khanna's home, his dying words leave her chilled to the bone. After all, Prime Minister Raghav Mohan is beloved by citizens, and a threat to his life is a threat to national security.

So, with nothing to go on but the smallest of clues, Vedika and her trusted aides - the resourceful journalist Shreya and the tech-wiz Kartik - must embark on a perilous journey that will take them from the corridors of power in the capital to the high-rises of Hong Kong and the innermost sanctums of Tibetan monasteries, the book's blurb says.

As Vedika and her team race against time to unravel clue after clue and uncover a sinister plot against the nation, will they succeed in their mission, or is it already too late? it says.