Mystery and murder in Calcutta. Couldn't put it down. ( )

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 only as needed to move the plot along. Looking forward to continuing this series. ( )

It was very interesting to read this book during my first trip to Britain. While it doesn’t take place there, but in India, it is infused with British colonial culture and tone. Sam Wyndham is a police detective and former military officer, taking refuge in India during the British rule there, just after WWI, escaping heartache and tragedy. Some of his demons follow him, but he manages to find his footing, throwing himself into a complex and perplexing case almost the moment he arrives. The murder mystery contains elements of occupation politics, post-war trauma, racial tensions and interesting details of time and place. It unfolds at a nice pace, with clues being revealed and added to the solution pile neatly. I figured out one piece (which is rare, for me), but didn’t spoiler myself entirely. I think this is the start of a series, so I’ll probably seek out further volumes, despite some niggly little editing errors that stood out for me, but didn’t wreck a strong and entertaining narrative. ( )

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, and the descriptions of Calcutta are vivid. ( )

Un policier atypique, dans l'immédiat après guerre et dans une Inde coloniale tiraillée. Le début d'une courte série policière pleine de profondeur. ( )