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Summary
Summary
In the days of the Raj, a newly arrived Scotland Yard detective is confronted with the murder of a British official--in his mouth a note warning the British to leave India, or else . . .
Calcutta, 1919. Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, is a new arrival to Calcutta. Desperately seeking a fresh start after his experiences during the Great War, Wyndham has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. He is immediately overwhelmed by the heady vibrancy of the tropical city, but with barely a moment to acclimatize or to deal with the ghosts that still haunt him, Wyndham is caught up in a murder investigation that threatens to destabilize a city already teetering on the brink of political insurgency.
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. Under tremendous pressure to solve the case before it erupts into increased violence on the streets, Wyndham and his two new colleagues--arrogant Inspector Digby and Sergeant Banerjee, one of the few Indians to be recruited into the new CID--embark on an investigation that will take them from the opulent mansions of wealthy British traders to the seedy opium dens of the city.
Masterfully evincing the sights, sounds, and smells of colonial Calcutta, A Rising Man is the start of an enticing new historical crime series.
Author Notes
Abir Mukherjee is the author of the award-winning Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India. He has won the CWA Historical Dagger and the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, the HWA Gold Crown, and the Edgar Allan Poe Award. His novels include A Rising Man , A Necessary Evil, Smoke and Ashes, and Death in the East. Abir grew up in Scotland and now lives in Surrey, England.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
British author Mukherjee's outstanding debut and series launch combines a cleverly constructed whodunit with an unusual locale-Calcutta in 1919-portrayed with convincing detail. Capt. Sam Wyndham, a former Scotland Yard detective, has arrived in the Indian city wounded in spirit from the loss of his wife to the influenza epidemic and addicted to morphine after surviving the trenches of the Western Front. His experience lands him a position with the British Imperial Police Force in Bengal, and he soon receives a sensitive murder inquiry. Alexander MacAuley, a top aide to the lieutenant governor, has been found in an alley with his throat slit, some fingers cut off, and a bloodstained scrap of paper placed in his mouth on which is written: "English blood will run in the streets." That warning indicates that Indian terrorists opposed to continuation of the Raj were responsible, but Wyndham finds the truth more complicated. The nuanced relationship between Wyndham and his Indian assistant, a sergeant known as Surrender-not Banerjee because the English can't pronounce his first name correctly, adds even more depth. Agent: Sam Copeland, Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.). (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
A newcomer to Calcutta in 1919, former Scotland Yard detective Captain Sam Wyndham is assigned a potentially explosive murder case and immediately senses gaping holes in his knowledge of Indian culture, local British politics, and urban geography. Alexander MacAuley, the lieutenant-governor's aide, lies dead in an alley behind a brothel, his throat slit and with a threatening note stuffed in his mouth. Given that rumors of impending rebellion against the Raj have put the British locals on high alert (the Amritsar Massacre is only days away), this case demands a quick resolution. Wyndham's position depends on his delivering just that. Luckily he's a quick learner. With a sly authorial wit, quirky characters, and historical details that anchor the story to its steamy, exotic locale, this debut novel is the first in what looks to be an entertaining new series similar to Barbara Cleverly's Detective Joe Sandilands mysteries (especially The Damascened Blade, 2004).--Baker, Jen Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
THERE'S NO POINT WAITING for Denise Mina's two dependable series sleuths, Alex Morrow and Paddy Meehan, to appear in THE LONG DROP (Little, Brown, $26), which is a drastic departure from her brilliant contemporary studies of criminals who prey on Glasgow's social underclass. This new novel takes its story from the Burnside murders, a true crime spree that horrified the city in the late 1950s. William Watt, the owner of a string of bakery shops, is innocent of the murder of his wife, his sister-in-law and his daughter, but although the police can't prove otherwise, they're convinced of his guilt. So Watt sets out to convince them that the real killer is Peter Manuel by - wait for it! - taking him out on a bender and jollying him into a confession. Mina has always been a close observer of the brutality drunkards can inflict on their wives and children ("Between lunchtime closing and the pubs reopening for the evening, Glasgow is carpeted with drunk men. They loll on pavements," wet themselves at bus stops, "fight invisible foes in the streets"). But she also feels for women like Manuel's mother, Brigit ("My knees are broken with praying for you"), and the father of a murdered girl who describes her in the blandest of terms on the witness stand because he can't bring himself to share his memories of the "real daughter" the public knows only as a mangled corpse. Mina even holds out her hand to those inarticulate thugs whose violent acts are a perverse way of validating their own lives. " 'You can't tell a story,'" Watt says, dismissing his companion's veiled threat over the course of their wild night, "not knowing that this is cutting Manuel to the bone." With one plotline continually hopscotching over the other, Mina manages to keep two narratives going at once: the farcical account of Watt and Manuel's binge and the sober courtroom drama of dueling life-or-death stories when Manuel faces a jury. Despite the novel's final reassurance that it's "just a story. Just a creepy story about a serial killer," this one feels painfully real. JO NESBO CERTAINLY has the magic touch when it comes to psycho serial killers. In THE THIRST (Knopf, $26.95), breathlessly translated by Neil Smith, the gloomy Norwegian novelist introduces a monster who stalks his victims on Tinder, rips out their throats with lethal dentures made of metal spikes and drinks their blood. When the killing starts, summer is over, with all its "hysterical, cheerful, stupid selfexpression," and Oslo has resumed its true character, "melancholic, reserved, efficient." That also describes Nesbo's protagonist, Harry Hole, "possibly the best, possibly the worst, but certainly the most mythologized murder detective" on the city's police force. Something about the killer's bizarre M.O. strikes a memory chord with Harry, and at the scene of the second killing he gets down to work, scrutinizing the bloody evidence, reading the clues the madman has leftfor the police and coming to the unnerving conclusion that "he wants to play." At this chilling point, teams of investigators are dispatched and the good citizens of Oslo are paralyzed with fear. But much of this melodrama is only a distraction from the intricate plotting that keeps the story shifting under our feet. Nesbo is a master at this narrative sleight of hand, and if you can stand the gory details and hang on during the switchback turns, the payoffis its own reward. ONE WAY TO DELIVER a message in the unsettled political climate of 1919 Calcutta is to stuffit in the mouth of a murdered man. "English blood will run in the streets," warns the note in Abir Mukherjee's enthralling debut novel, A RISING MAN (Pegasus, $25.95). "Quit India!" Lord Charles Taggart, the police commissioner, assigns the case to Capt. Sam Wyndham, newly arrived from England with lingering war wounds and a morphine habit but a keen appreciation for the "vibrant, wretched beauty" of the slums of Calcutta. The investigation sends Wyndham and his Bengali assistant on a whirlwind circuit of the city. On his way to uncovering "a fully fledged terrorist campaign" against the Raj, Capt. Wyndham is educated in the ways that 150,000 Britons have managed to maintain mastery over millions of Indians. LOVE AND DEATH IN BURGUNDY (Minotaur, $24.99), Susan C. Shea's novel set in the French countryside, offers a pleasant getaway from hard-core killers. Reignysur- Canne is an unspoiled village with only a crumbling castle to recommend it to tourists. Katherine Goff, an American artist of modest reputation and a likable enough amateur sleuth, has acquired an eclectic group of friends and potential murder victims (including a rich, rude American I'd like to murder myself). There are local fetes, excursions to colorful flea markets and the odd interesting character like Jeannette, a 14-year-old thief with personality. That might be enough for a respectable cozy mystery. Even so, this feels like something you've read before - the same characters, the same fetes, even the same recycled scenery. MARILYN STASIO has covered crime fiction for the Book Review since 1988. Her column appears twice a month.
Library Journal Review
Haunted by the death of his wife and experiences in the Great War, Capt. Sam -Wyndham, a former Scotland Yard detective, accepts a job with the imperial police force in 1919 Calcutta. He has no time to acclimate to his new surroundings before the body of a British official is found near a brothel with a note stuffed in his mouth demanding that the British leave India. The ramifications of the murder increase the destabilizing pressure from insurgents demanding greater Indian autonomy. Sam is assisted by the arrogant Inspector Digby, who had been bypassed for a promotion to Sam's job, and Sgt. Surendranath (Surrender-not) Banerjee, one of the few Indians working in the CID. Their investigations take them from grimy jails to elegant mansions and attract irritation and interference from the upper echelons of the British Raj. Verdict Winner of the Harvill Secker Daily Telegraph crime writing competition, this stirring, entertaining first mystery bursts with lively, colorful historical details about colonial Calcutta. The developing relationship between Wyndham and Banerjee is a delight. A fine start to a new crime series that will attract readers of M.J. Carter and Tarquin Hall.-ACT © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.