Status
Available
Series
Description
In the days of the British Raj in 1919, Captain Sam Wyndham, a former Scotland Yard detective newly arrived in Calcutta, is confronted with the murder of a British official who was found with a note in his mouth warning the British to leave India. Calcutta, 1919. Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. The body of a senior official has been found in a filthy sewer, and a note left in his mouth warns the British to quit India, or else. Wyndham is teamed with arrogant Inspector Digby and Sergeant Banerjee, one of the few Indians to be recruited into the new CID. The case takes them from the opulent mansions of wealthy British traders to the seedy opium dens of the city-- and puts them under pressure to solve the case before it erupts into increased violence on the streets.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
This adventure is set in the Calcutta of 1919 (West Bengal, post WW1), just as Indian nationalist fervour is making inroads in challenges to the domination of British rule. Mukherjee's novel has many attractive plot points and amusing asides: surprising twists in the murder investigation, droll
However, the novel is somewhat flawed in the telling. There is no real sense of the times and place itself. Although there were upheavals in how British East India was governed at the time, the events and personalities portrayed in the novel seemed at odds with the historical political discontent. Perhaps a story focused solely on the lesser evils of corrupt colonial administration and murder needed to draw a line by not being drawn into too much of the day's overarching politics, but the theme was thereby flimsy.
As for the dénouement, it was a rushed narrative that fell flat, rather than a brilliant reveal. Do read this book if you enjoy acerbic commentary and an ever-changing parade of complexities in sorting out the mystery of a pukka sahib's death.
Show More
remarks snidely directed at British societal customs and conceits, observations of Calcutta's architectural highlights, early-20th-Century race relations. The intrigue and personalities add to an engaging narrative.However, the novel is somewhat flawed in the telling. There is no real sense of the times and place itself. Although there were upheavals in how British East India was governed at the time, the events and personalities portrayed in the novel seemed at odds with the historical political discontent. Perhaps a story focused solely on the lesser evils of corrupt colonial administration and murder needed to draw a line by not being drawn into too much of the day's overarching politics, but the theme was thereby flimsy.
As for the dénouement, it was a rushed narrative that fell flat, rather than a brilliant reveal. Do read this book if you enjoy acerbic commentary and an ever-changing parade of complexities in sorting out the mystery of a pukka sahib's death.
Show Less
LibraryThing member breic
This novel starts quite poorly. I read mysteries for the characters, and these ones seemed bland and forgettable. The writing is also awkward. I can forgive historical information dumps in historical fiction, even awkward ones, *if* I learn something. But middle-school history info-dumps are not
Yet, the story picks up, the writing tightens up, and the characters start to grow up. 200 pages in the novel becomes much more compelling. In the end I found it rather enjoyable.
Show More
forgivable. Yet, the story picks up, the writing tightens up, and the characters start to grow up. 200 pages in the novel becomes much more compelling. In the end I found it rather enjoyable.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BrianEWilliams
This is excellent historical fiction about 1919 India, and a pretty good whodunit murder mystery. It's well plotted and well paced.
There's sufficient historical detail to provide background without being overwhelming. The main protagonist is a transplanted Scotland Yard detective who is
There's sufficient historical detail to provide background without being overwhelming. The main protagonist is a transplanted Scotland Yard detective who is
Show More
sufficiently rough around the edges to be a believable character. His sidekick "Surrender-not" is an earnest British educated Indian who comes from a high-caste family. Together they make a good pair of investigators. There's a fair bit of local colour about Calcutta, and the culture of the British who govern India at the time. This is a good start for a series of crime fiction novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member cathyskye
When I first picked up A Rising Man and began to read, I read it as I would any other historical mystery. I soon fell headfirst into a major roadblock: the slow-as-treacle pace. Fortunately, before I gave up and moved to another book, I realized that the setting of this book is absolutely fabulous
Mukherjee has written this book in such a way that readers get to see Calcutta in 1919 from several different points of view. It is a city-- and a country-- just beginning its quest for freedom in earnest. The vast majority of Indians do not wish to be a part of the British Raj. There are revolutionaries showing us why India wants its freedom. There are British bureaucrats who-- above all else-- wish to maintain their precarious status quo. There are Indians like Sergeant Banerjee who want the British out but want to learn how to govern and how to fight crime first. And into this mix comes Sam Wyndham, who's survived a long meat-grinder of a war with few illusions left. He's fought side by side with brave and honorable men of all races and creeds, so he doesn't always see situations from his superiors' points of view. And speaking of points of view, there are several that some readers may find uncomfortable.
Once I settled down to read this book as historical fiction rather than as a mystery, I was much happier. Yes, the mystery is a good one, and Sam Wyndham is a finely drawn character, but it is the city of Calcutta that steals the show. I'm looking forward to Abir Mukherjee's next book with a great deal of interest.
Show More
and well worth the price of admission.Mukherjee has written this book in such a way that readers get to see Calcutta in 1919 from several different points of view. It is a city-- and a country-- just beginning its quest for freedom in earnest. The vast majority of Indians do not wish to be a part of the British Raj. There are revolutionaries showing us why India wants its freedom. There are British bureaucrats who-- above all else-- wish to maintain their precarious status quo. There are Indians like Sergeant Banerjee who want the British out but want to learn how to govern and how to fight crime first. And into this mix comes Sam Wyndham, who's survived a long meat-grinder of a war with few illusions left. He's fought side by side with brave and honorable men of all races and creeds, so he doesn't always see situations from his superiors' points of view. And speaking of points of view, there are several that some readers may find uncomfortable.
Once I settled down to read this book as historical fiction rather than as a mystery, I was much happier. Yes, the mystery is a good one, and Sam Wyndham is a finely drawn character, but it is the city of Calcutta that steals the show. I'm looking forward to Abir Mukherjee's next book with a great deal of interest.
Show Less
LibraryThing member aadyer
An interesting debut. This is a thriller set in British India at the end of the First World War, with the Armritsar massacre playing the back of a backdrop. A hardened detective arrives in India to investigate the death of a British official and the plot Develops from there. Well paced, but could
Show More
be better, I didn't find it like some crime, difficult to follow or impenetrable. It was good, just not brilliant. Whether or not Samuel Wyndhams characterisation and further adventures will improve remains to be seen. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
This is a book that defies the standard genre categorisation. On the face of it, as a novel which recounts the investigation of the murder of a high ranking British official in Calcutta in 1919, one could easily classify it as a crime novel, or even a historical crime novel. The risk with that
In 1919 Sam Wyndham has just arrived in Calcutta to take up the post of Detective inspector in the colonial police force. He is a haunted and grieving man, having suffered severe shellshock during the first World War, and then returned to civilian life to find that his wife had died during the dreadful influenza epidemic that followed the close of hostilities. Having previously served as a policeman in London, including a spell in Special Branch investigating Irish nationalist extremists, he is looking for a fresh start to life. An additional consequence of his horrendous war experiences is that he has developed a mild addiction to morphine.
Wyndham finds Calcutta bemusing and oppressive. The novel opens in April, just as the hot season is starting to take hold, and the weather presents a huge challenge to someone fresh from Blighty, and the heat, humidity and lack of morphine take a heavy toll on Wyndham’s equanimity. There is also an atmosphere of unrest, with growing cries among the huge indigenous population for independence, or at least a relaxing of the colonial stranglehold. Rather than complying, the colonial administration has strengthened the anti-insurrection legislation. Wyndham finds himself working with Sub-Inspector Digby, who demonstrates many of the more traditional opinions and prejudices prevalent throughout the British Raj administration, and Sergeant Srindranath ‘Surrender-Not’ Bannerjee. Paradoxically, coming from a privileged Indian family, Sergeant Bannerjee was sent to Britain for his education and attended Harrow and then Cambridge University.
Wyndham has barely arrived in Calcutta when he finds himself despatched to the scene of a murder. A senior British civil servant has been found dead in an alley in a poor part of the city, and a message warning the British Imperial Administration to withdraw has been attached to the body. Because of the prominence of the victim, Wyndham is left under no illusions that an arrest is needed as soon as possible. Indeed, barely has his investigation properly begun before he finds himself encountering, and indeed being largely thwarted by, British Military Intelligence in the guise of ‘H Division’.
Abir Mukherjee has delivered a fine detective story, with the added bonus for the reader of an entertaining and intriguing of Calcutta in the early twentieth century, in which the various social strata are in constant competition with each other, both within and across racial divides. The historical context is well developed, and interesting parallels are drawn between the struggle for Irish Independence, which had taken a great leap forward following the Easter Rising just three years earlier, and the growing threats of insurrection within India itself, despite the conflicting aims and rivalries of the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities.
This is an impressive debut, and I was pleased to see from the book jacket that a further instalment of Captain Wyndham’s adventures will be following shortly.
Show More
categorisation is that it might lead people to overlook the fact that it is simply a very good novel, regardless of genre.In 1919 Sam Wyndham has just arrived in Calcutta to take up the post of Detective inspector in the colonial police force. He is a haunted and grieving man, having suffered severe shellshock during the first World War, and then returned to civilian life to find that his wife had died during the dreadful influenza epidemic that followed the close of hostilities. Having previously served as a policeman in London, including a spell in Special Branch investigating Irish nationalist extremists, he is looking for a fresh start to life. An additional consequence of his horrendous war experiences is that he has developed a mild addiction to morphine.
Wyndham finds Calcutta bemusing and oppressive. The novel opens in April, just as the hot season is starting to take hold, and the weather presents a huge challenge to someone fresh from Blighty, and the heat, humidity and lack of morphine take a heavy toll on Wyndham’s equanimity. There is also an atmosphere of unrest, with growing cries among the huge indigenous population for independence, or at least a relaxing of the colonial stranglehold. Rather than complying, the colonial administration has strengthened the anti-insurrection legislation. Wyndham finds himself working with Sub-Inspector Digby, who demonstrates many of the more traditional opinions and prejudices prevalent throughout the British Raj administration, and Sergeant Srindranath ‘Surrender-Not’ Bannerjee. Paradoxically, coming from a privileged Indian family, Sergeant Bannerjee was sent to Britain for his education and attended Harrow and then Cambridge University.
Wyndham has barely arrived in Calcutta when he finds himself despatched to the scene of a murder. A senior British civil servant has been found dead in an alley in a poor part of the city, and a message warning the British Imperial Administration to withdraw has been attached to the body. Because of the prominence of the victim, Wyndham is left under no illusions that an arrest is needed as soon as possible. Indeed, barely has his investigation properly begun before he finds himself encountering, and indeed being largely thwarted by, British Military Intelligence in the guise of ‘H Division’.
Abir Mukherjee has delivered a fine detective story, with the added bonus for the reader of an entertaining and intriguing of Calcutta in the early twentieth century, in which the various social strata are in constant competition with each other, both within and across racial divides. The historical context is well developed, and interesting parallels are drawn between the struggle for Irish Independence, which had taken a great leap forward following the Easter Rising just three years earlier, and the growing threats of insurrection within India itself, despite the conflicting aims and rivalries of the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities.
This is an impressive debut, and I was pleased to see from the book jacket that a further instalment of Captain Wyndham’s adventures will be following shortly.
Show Less
LibraryThing member eyes.2c
Huzzah! An enticing historical crime novel!
The understated discourse by Captain Sam Wyndham is up there with the best of them.
In the opening page Wyndham's statement sets the tone, "When you think you’ve seen it all, it’s nice to find that a killer can still surprise you." A British official
It's 1919, post the war. Captain Wyndham, formerly of Scotland Yard has taken a posting in Calcutta.
He displays a certain jaundiced attitude covering an inner Boy Scout hopefulness.
Up against corruption, home grown terrorists (fighters for home rule and independence from Britain), Wyndham's introductory case is that of this official murdered in an alley in the more sordid parts of the city. In a place he should not have been! And it happens outside a brothel!
The trail will take Wyndham from the heights of government, to the most powerful businessmen in the country,and to H Division's Secret Service headquarters, into to the very bowels of the bazaar and the squalor therein.
Accompanied by his new sidekicks, the quite unpleasant Inspector Digby and wonderfully understated Sergeant Surrender-not Banerjee. The conversations between these three are truly the stuff of the past. Delivered in such an understated fashion, I just laughed at so many places, when my jaw wasn't dropping.
I am so hooked!
A NetGalley ARC
The understated discourse by Captain Sam Wyndham is up there with the best of them.
In the opening page Wyndham's statement sets the tone, "When you think you’ve seen it all, it’s nice to find that a killer can still surprise you." A British official
Show More
has been murdered, a threatening note stuffed in his mouth addressed to the overlords, the crown raj.It's 1919, post the war. Captain Wyndham, formerly of Scotland Yard has taken a posting in Calcutta.
He displays a certain jaundiced attitude covering an inner Boy Scout hopefulness.
Up against corruption, home grown terrorists (fighters for home rule and independence from Britain), Wyndham's introductory case is that of this official murdered in an alley in the more sordid parts of the city. In a place he should not have been! And it happens outside a brothel!
The trail will take Wyndham from the heights of government, to the most powerful businessmen in the country,and to H Division's Secret Service headquarters, into to the very bowels of the bazaar and the squalor therein.
Accompanied by his new sidekicks, the quite unpleasant Inspector Digby and wonderfully understated Sergeant Surrender-not Banerjee. The conversations between these three are truly the stuff of the past. Delivered in such an understated fashion, I just laughed at so many places, when my jaw wasn't dropping.
I am so hooked!
A NetGalley ARC
Show Less
LibraryThing member pgchuis
A police procedural set in Calcutta in 1919, this was excellent. It had a likeable protagonist, Sam, a white transfer from Scotland Yard and Special Branch, and his side kick Surrender-not, a Brahmin educated at Cambridge, and returned home. The tone was light and amusing for the most part, but
Highly recommended.
Show More
also thoughtful about politics and India and Empire and relationships between the races.Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ritaer
Sam Wyndham has given up on England after the death of his wife in the post WWI flue epidemic. He decides to try his luck in India and accepts a post with the Calcutta police. His first case is the murder of a British official outside a brothel on the native side of town. HIs sergeant is a Hindu,
Show More
educated at Cambridge, but seen only as an unreliable native by the English. Wyndham struggles to solve the case while coping with opium addiction and his unfamiliarity with the colonial ethos. Very good for a first mystery. Show Less
LibraryThing member EBT1002
This was an engaging police procedural set in Calcutta in 1919. Sam Wyndham is fresh in country from Scotland Yard when a high-ranking sahib is found murdered in the alley behind a brothel. Sam and his sergeant follow the trails of clues through the administrative halls of the colonial government.
Show More
They find treachery, corruption, and one beautiful woman. Quite enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member brangwinn
I love this series about an English police detective in colonial India. I look forward to more mysteries involving Sam Wyndham. I read A Necessary Evil before this one and I was glad and read this first book in the series to bring more depth to the characters.
LibraryThing member Welsh_eileen2
On a sultry Calcutta morning a body is found in a part of that city not often frequented by people of the status of the murdered man.
He was dressed in evening wear and as Captain Wyndham examined him a note was found stuffed into his mouth with the words - "No more warnings. English blood will run
So begins possible terrorism and the involvement of the Lieutenant Governor of the State.
An edge of the seat novel which kept me guessing all the way.
Hope to read more from this author soon.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Random House via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
He was dressed in evening wear and as Captain Wyndham examined him a note was found stuffed into his mouth with the words - "No more warnings. English blood will run
Show More
in the streets. Quit India!"So begins possible terrorism and the involvement of the Lieutenant Governor of the State.
An edge of the seat novel which kept me guessing all the way.
Hope to read more from this author soon.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Random House via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
Show Less
LibraryThing member smik
Captain Sam Wyndham finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation almost immediately upon his arrival in Calcutta. He finds himself at odds with the security force directed by the Lieutenant Governor. The dead official is part of the L-G's team, and Wyndham feels that they want to sweep
Tensions run high in the British Raj in 1919. White people receive preferred treatment while the Indian native population are treat as inferiors, despite their qualifications. So the novel provides interesting insights into colonialism. During the novel the Amritsar Massacre takes place and tensions are very much heightened.
One of the tasks Wyndham has been charged with is to root out corruption in the Calcutta Police Force and so he is not even sure who he can trust. A Mail train is held up but nothing is taken although a railway employee is battered to death. So what were they looking for? Were the attackers insurgents?
A complex plot, well handled, with enough historical details to provide authenticity. Wyndham and his sergeant Surrender-not Banajee make an interesting sleuthing duo.
Show More
everything under the carpet rather than investigate properly.Tensions run high in the British Raj in 1919. White people receive preferred treatment while the Indian native population are treat as inferiors, despite their qualifications. So the novel provides interesting insights into colonialism. During the novel the Amritsar Massacre takes place and tensions are very much heightened.
One of the tasks Wyndham has been charged with is to root out corruption in the Calcutta Police Force and so he is not even sure who he can trust. A Mail train is held up but nothing is taken although a railway employee is battered to death. So what were they looking for? Were the attackers insurgents?
A complex plot, well handled, with enough historical details to provide authenticity. Wyndham and his sergeant Surrender-not Banajee make an interesting sleuthing duo.
Show Less
LibraryThing member decaturmamaof2
Cannot wait to read Abir Mukherjee's next book. Great characterisations and compelling story.
LibraryThing member jeanbmac
Loved it. Great story. Great writing.
LibraryThing member quondame
While the idea of mysteries set in the Calcutta of 1919 seems promising, and there are some good bits, this book doesn't quite jell. The newcomer in charge of investigating of the murder of a civil servant fairly high up in the colonial administration is structured in a fairly obvious way but what
Show More
damages the book for me is that I felt no sense of place, only the relentless emphasis on the stifling heat of April. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookwyrmm
Amazing police procedural that has the feel of a mystery written when this novel was set.
LibraryThing member DidIReallyReadThat
I really liked this book. The mystery was good and the characters were great. And I really liked that it took place in India in 1919 which added a lot of atmosphere to the story.
LibraryThing member LizzySiddal
Enjoyed it so much, I started book 2 immediately thereafter!
LibraryThing member nbmars
The British Raj (literally, "rule" in Sanskrit and Hindustani) was the name for colonial domination of the Indian subcontinent by the British Crown from 1858 to 1947. The path for the Raj was paved by the East India Company (EIC), which was originally formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, but
By 1803, at the height of its rule in India, the EIC had a private army of about 260,000—twice the size of the British Army, ruling large areas of India with the “help” of its private armies. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, as well as exposure [read: bad international press] of the EIC’s ignominious mistreatment of Indians who were in its power; its use of slave labor; the company's promotion of the opium trade to enrich themselves at the cost of the lives of so many non-whites; and its actions leading to the starvation deaths of millions of people, the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown's assuming direct control of the Indian subcontinent. The official government machinery of British India, now called the British Raj, assumed the EIC's governmental functions and absorbed its navy and its armies.
The plot of this historical fiction crime novel set in India in 1919 exposes the psychological scaffolding that supported the Raj. As one character explains to the protagonist:
“For such a small number [150,000 British] to rule over so many [300 million Indians], the rulers need to project an aura of superiority over the ruled. Not just physical or military superiority mind, but also moral superiority. More importantly, their subjects must in turn believe themselves to be inferior; that they need to be ruled for their own benefit.”
The Indian psyche had been groomed for the Raj not only by the EIC; India has a rigid caste system which is among the world's oldest form of surviving social stratification, as Isabel Wilkerson explains in her 2020 book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Wilkerson defines caste in a way that will certainly resonate with readers of this book about the Raj:
“an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits, traits that would be neutral in the abstract but are ascribed life-and-death meaning in a hierarchy favoriting the dominant caste whose forebears designed it.”
There are many deleterious repercussions of a caste system, the one most salient to this novel being that the ruling class comes to believe in its own superiority, leading to even more dehumanization of those over whom it rules. Moreover, as a character explains, “anything that threatens that fiction is a threat to the whole edifice.”
Thus, when a murder is committed and the victim is a “sahib,” a term referring to any white European on the Indian subcontinent, and worse yet, the body is found in “black town” (the name for native Indian areas), the matter is extremely sensitive. So much so, that Detective Inspector Captain Samuel Wyndham, newly arrived in Calcutta, doesn’t quite understand why he has been given the case.
Sam has two subordinates assigned to help him: Detective Sub-inspector John Digby, an obnoxious white racist who resents not being in charge himself, and Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee, dubbed “Surrender-not” by Digby who couldn’t be bothered to learn how to pronounce Banerjee’s first name. Sam, who thinks he is better than the coarse Digby, nevertheless is clueless about the racism inherent in deliberately mispronouncing someone's name; the messages it sends; and the toll it takes on members of discriminated groups.
The circumstances of the murder suggested an assassination of a senior British official by native terrorists. The detectives had to tread carefully. Just the previous month, the Rowlatt Acts had been passed in response to increased unrest by Indians. The Acts allowed the British to lock up anyone suspected of terrorism or revolutionary activities. They could hold prisoners for up to two years without trial.
As Sam doggedly investigated in spite of having his life endangered, he came to see that the murder was very much related to controversies over race, class, and the question of independence, as well as the “artificial construction of presumed supremacy.”
Evaluation: This book, the first in a series of crime novels featuring Wyndam and Banerjee, won a number of awards, as have the sequels. I appreciated the way the author deftly wove insights about the Raj Era in India into the plot. But I detested most of the characters - certainly all of the British characters, including the protagonist Sam Wyndham. Sam could not shed his own prejudices, even while (sometimes) acknowledging them. Although Sam was in charge of both Digby and Banerjee, he treated the repugnant (but white) Digby with respect, while he treated "Surrender-not" as an inferior. About that disparity, he seemed to have no self-awareness. I find it hard to enjoy spending the time required to read a book when I don’t like most of the people in it.
Show More
ended up seizing political control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent. By 1803, at the height of its rule in India, the EIC had a private army of about 260,000—twice the size of the British Army, ruling large areas of India with the “help” of its private armies. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, as well as exposure [read: bad international press] of the EIC’s ignominious mistreatment of Indians who were in its power; its use of slave labor; the company's promotion of the opium trade to enrich themselves at the cost of the lives of so many non-whites; and its actions leading to the starvation deaths of millions of people, the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown's assuming direct control of the Indian subcontinent. The official government machinery of British India, now called the British Raj, assumed the EIC's governmental functions and absorbed its navy and its armies.
The plot of this historical fiction crime novel set in India in 1919 exposes the psychological scaffolding that supported the Raj. As one character explains to the protagonist:
“For such a small number [150,000 British] to rule over so many [300 million Indians], the rulers need to project an aura of superiority over the ruled. Not just physical or military superiority mind, but also moral superiority. More importantly, their subjects must in turn believe themselves to be inferior; that they need to be ruled for their own benefit.”
The Indian psyche had been groomed for the Raj not only by the EIC; India has a rigid caste system which is among the world's oldest form of surviving social stratification, as Isabel Wilkerson explains in her 2020 book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Wilkerson defines caste in a way that will certainly resonate with readers of this book about the Raj:
“an artificial construction, a fixed and embedded ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups on the basis of ancestry and often immutable traits, traits that would be neutral in the abstract but are ascribed life-and-death meaning in a hierarchy favoriting the dominant caste whose forebears designed it.”
There are many deleterious repercussions of a caste system, the one most salient to this novel being that the ruling class comes to believe in its own superiority, leading to even more dehumanization of those over whom it rules. Moreover, as a character explains, “anything that threatens that fiction is a threat to the whole edifice.”
Thus, when a murder is committed and the victim is a “sahib,” a term referring to any white European on the Indian subcontinent, and worse yet, the body is found in “black town” (the name for native Indian areas), the matter is extremely sensitive. So much so, that Detective Inspector Captain Samuel Wyndham, newly arrived in Calcutta, doesn’t quite understand why he has been given the case.
Sam has two subordinates assigned to help him: Detective Sub-inspector John Digby, an obnoxious white racist who resents not being in charge himself, and Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee, dubbed “Surrender-not” by Digby who couldn’t be bothered to learn how to pronounce Banerjee’s first name. Sam, who thinks he is better than the coarse Digby, nevertheless is clueless about the racism inherent in deliberately mispronouncing someone's name; the messages it sends; and the toll it takes on members of discriminated groups.
The circumstances of the murder suggested an assassination of a senior British official by native terrorists. The detectives had to tread carefully. Just the previous month, the Rowlatt Acts had been passed in response to increased unrest by Indians. The Acts allowed the British to lock up anyone suspected of terrorism or revolutionary activities. They could hold prisoners for up to two years without trial.
As Sam doggedly investigated in spite of having his life endangered, he came to see that the murder was very much related to controversies over race, class, and the question of independence, as well as the “artificial construction of presumed supremacy.”
Evaluation: This book, the first in a series of crime novels featuring Wyndam and Banerjee, won a number of awards, as have the sequels. I appreciated the way the author deftly wove insights about the Raj Era in India into the plot. But I detested most of the characters - certainly all of the British characters, including the protagonist Sam Wyndham. Sam could not shed his own prejudices, even while (sometimes) acknowledging them. Although Sam was in charge of both Digby and Banerjee, he treated the repugnant (but white) Digby with respect, while he treated "Surrender-not" as an inferior. About that disparity, he seemed to have no self-awareness. I find it hard to enjoy spending the time required to read a book when I don’t like most of the people in it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member delphimo
Enter Calcutta, India, in 1919. The British, a white minority, rule India, but the natives are restless and want control of India. The story opens with the grisly murder of a high ranking white man. The man’s throat has been slit and has knife wounds in his stomach. Plus a warning note has been
Show More
stuffed in his mouth. A former Scotland Yard inspector and WWI veteran, Captain Sam Wyndham, lands in India, expecting to reframe his life. Many rules of the British control hamper Wyndham. Who to trust? Can Wyndham control his opium addiction? Why does the military remain in control? I did not enjoy the writing style of Mukherjee and will not continue this series. Many times the chapters appear to be a history book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gwendydd
Very entertaining murder mystery set in British Imperial Calcutta after WWI. The author makes very good use of the setting and of the tensions between the English and the Indians. Mukherjee is a good writer - not only is the mystery engaging, but the characters are well-developed and believable,
Show More
and the descriptions of Calcutta are vivid. Show Less
LibraryThing member LoriRous
I think the author created interesting characters and storyline to convey the prevailing political climate in India in 1919. The main character reflects on how difficult it is not to adopt the prevailing prejudice towards Indian natives but still works hard to find justice within a system rife with
Show More
human and political injustice. Show Less
LibraryThing member MugsyNoir
A look back at British rule over India in the years leading up to and including 1919, well-blended with a finely plotted story and interesting characters. Maybe a tad long, but an excellent debut. Mukherjee does a nice job avoiding a data dump on the history aspects of the story, parsing them out
Show More
only as needed to move the plot along. Looking forward to continuing this series. Show Less
Awards
Edgar Award (Nominee — Novel — 2018)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2017)
Macavity Award (Nominee — 2018)
Barry Award (Nominee — First Novel — 2018)
RUSA CODES Reading List (Read-alike to Winner — Mystery — 2024)
Waverton Good Read Award (Longlist — 2016)
Jhalak Prize (Shortlist — 2017)
Theakstons Old Peculier Prize (Longlist — 2018)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Mystery/Thriller — 2017)