Abir Mukherjee
Abir Mukherjee is a bestselling mystery writer. He is also co-host of the Red Hot Chilli Writers podcast.
Books by Abir Mukherjee
The Shadows of Men
by Abir Mukherjee
***Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Gold Dagger***
The books in Abir Mukherjee's Wyndham and Banerjee series are set in India in the last decades of the Raj. In this book, Gandhi is in the background and communal violence in the foreground, but like all the books in the series, The Shadows of Men is very lighthearted in tone. India's first elections had taken place a few years before, in 1920. The two main protagonists, Sam Wyndham and Surendranath Banerjee, are based in colonial Calcutta but in this book also travel to Bombay. If you like your mysteries set in the past but not too heavy, this series is ideal. The Shadows of Men is the fifth book in the series, if you want to start at the beginning, the first is A Rising Man.
Death in the East
by Abir Mukherjee
***Shortlisted for the 2020 CWA Gold Dagger***
This is book number 4 in a historical mysteries series set in India during the Raj, with book no.3 already nominated for an Edgar. You could also read the series in order, but if you want to sample just one, Death in the East is particularly gripping. The story alternates between East London (before World War I) and a hill station in India (after World War I), with the two plotlines weaving together nicely.
Smoke and Ashes
by Abir Mukherjee
***Shortlisted for the 2020 Edgar Allan Poe Awards***
Smoke and Ashes is the third book in a series featuring Sam Wyndham, a policeman in the Imperial Police Force of Raj-era India, as the chief protagonist. It’s set in Bengal and specifically Calcutta (now Kolkata), after the capital of the Raj has moved to Delhi. In the background looms Gandhi and his bid for swaraj, or independence, by non-violent resistance and the tricky aspects of dealing with that for the authorities, of whom Captain Wyndham is one. It’s quite a light read and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
