Books by Abir Mukherjee

A Rising Man (Quick Reads)

by Abir Mukherjee

This is a 'Quick Reads' version of A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee, the first novel in his historical mystery series set in colonial Calcutta. The main protagonists are  Sam Wyndham and Surendranath Banerjee of the Imperial Police Force. The books in the series are fun to read and don't take themselves too seriously.

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Hunted

by Abir Mukherjee

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee is a standalone thriller that manages to be both a dramatic chase story and quite homely, celebrating family relationships. The book opens with an apparent suicide bombing at a mall in California and takes us to Washington State and across the United States to Florida. There's a dysfunctional FBI agent, uninspiring presidential candidates and a deep state conspiracy, all served up with Mukherjee's trademark humour. The book is nearly 500 pages but it's very more-ish so easy to read in a day or two (especially if you ignore your family and other domestic commitments).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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