About “The House of Fear”
The House of Fear is the first English translation of Ibn-e-Safi’s Urdu novel Khaufnaak Imaraat, published in 1955. It was translated by Bilal Tanweer and published by Random House. The book includes a second novella titled Shootout at the Rocks. Both stories feature the recurring character Imran, a detective who appears in 122 novels written by Ibn-e-Safi, whose real name was Asrar Narvi. In the first story, the protagonist finds dead bodies with three knife wounds placed exactly five inches apart. He solves the case while reciting poetry and praising Indian film stars. In the second story, a colonel receives wooden animal toys linked to a centuries-old killer group called Li Yu Ka. He soon faces danger and turns to Imran for help. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)