Books Set in Asia: India: Sambalpore

A Necessary Evil, by Abir Mukherjee (2018)

I read Abir Mukherjee’s first book, A Rising Man, 2 years ago.  That book introduced the reader to Captain Sam Wyndham, a former detective with Scotland Yard, who relocated to India during the final years of British Rule in that country.  I loved the mix of mystery and history, so was looking forward to the second book in the series.  I was not disappointed.

This mystery novel explores the princely state of Sambalpore, which existed within the borders of India, but was exempt from British rule.  The novel, sent in 1920, begins in Calcutta with the assassination of the heir apparent of Sambalpore.  Captain Wyndham and his sidekick, Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee, known as “Surrender-not”, travel to Sambalpore with the body of the prince. Surrender-not is the official British representative, while Captain Wyndham is ostensibly on holiday.  They hope to track down the assassin.

On the surface, the prince’s death seems to be at the hands of religious fanatics. The prince, however, had informed that that he had received vague death threats.  Because Sambalpore is not under British rule, Wyndham has no jurisdiction within the principality.  The Maharaja, the prince’s father, however, authorizes Wyndam and Banerjee to look into the matter.

Complicating the matter is the fact that much of the wealth of the principality comes from the diamond mines.  A British company is hot to procure the mines, but if sold, how would that impact the principalities economy?  When the royal accountant goes missing, it appears there may be a link between his disappearance and the death of the prince.

The Maharaja has three wives and hundreds of concubines living in the zenana (harem), who are guarded by loyal eunichs.  Wyndham needs to question the prince’s mother, who is the Maharaja’s second wife, but the women in the zenana are generally forbidden to meet with the outside.  The Maharaja’s first and eldest wife, however, finds a way to meet with Wyndham and provides insight into the running of the principality.  Women, it seems, have a great deal of influence, albeit,  unseen, role in ruling the country.

I loved this book as much as the first novel.  The author has a wonderful way with describing the scenery and flavor of India in the 1920s.  In addition to a fun mystery, there is a great deal of history of India and these little kingdoms that co-existed with British rule.

Read: April 22, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Calcutta, India

A Rising Man, by Abir Mukherjee (2017)

Sometimes when I am in the library, a book catches my eye and I just pick it up without having a clue what it is about.  A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee was one such book and it is a gem.

Set in the waning years of the British Empire in India, the book begins in Calcutta in early 1919.  Captain Sam Wyndham, a former detective with the Scotland Yard, was seeking an escape from England and is recovering both from the recent death of his wife and the trauma of having survived the battlefront of World War I.  He has joined the British Imperial Police Force.

Within days of his arrival in India, he becomes the lead detective in a sensitive and political murder investigation.  Senior political officer, Alexander MacAuley, was found murdered outside of a brothel in a seedy party of town.  His body was mutated body was found with a scrap of paper stuffed into his mouth, which contained a not-so-subtle threat indicating that the Indian terrorists opposing British rule were responsible for the murder.

Wyndham has been assigned two other police officers to assist with the investigation ~ Inspector Digby and Sergeant Banerjee.  Digby is an arrogant British officer who strongly supports the British rule over the “natives.”  Banjerjee is British educated, but Indian-born, and because the British are unable to pronounce his name, call him Surrender-not Banerjee.  It looks like a political murder, but is it?

India in 1919 is ready for revolution.  India has been under British colonial administration for a century and the colonials are making a fortune at the expense of the Indians.  The Indians are ready for their own Home Rule and pockets of terrorist cells are beginning to make trouble for the British.  In addition, during the period of British rule, British men married Indian women and now their offspring are outcasts in both cultures.  The author deftly recounts the tensions and between the British and the Indians in this marvelous novel.

The author is grew up in England and is the son of Indian immigrants, thus his interest in colonial India.  Captain Wyndham will appear in a new book, A Necessary Evil, that was just published in June 2017.  I will definitely look forward to meeting up with this detective again!

Read:  June 1, 2017

5 Stars