Abir Mukherjee’s debut novel, A Rising Man, is a murder mystery set in Calcutta in 1919, during the waning days of the British Raj. The author's family immigrated from Calcutta to Scotland when he was a child, but made regular trips home to visit. Mukherjee spent twenty years working in finance and writing as a hobby. He entered his manuscript in the Harvill Secker/Daily Telegraph competition and won. He now has begun a second career as a novelist.
A Rising Man is narrated by former Scotland Yard detective and World War I veteran Sam Wyndham, who arrives in Calcutta in 1919 to join the Imperial Police. Wyndham is desperate for a fresh start and a chance to put painful memories behind him. But he's scarcely settled into his new job and made the acquaintance of his team when he is confronted with his first big case: solving the brutal murder of a senior British official. His superiors believe that native "terrorists" (ie., advocates for Indian independence) are responsible for Alexander MacAuley's death. MacAuley's body was found with his throat cut, dumped in a sewer behind a brothel in "Black Town," (the native quarter). A note stuffed into the corpse's mouth warns the British to leave India or else.
The British will tolerate no dissent against their heavy-handed rule, because how else can a little over one hundred thousand white colonists maintain control over millions of native Indians? The system is rife with injustice, and seething with rebellion, and the situation is only made worse when news comes of a British massacre of unarmed protesters at Amritsar.
The powerful security forces soon settle on a native scapegoat for MacCauley's murder, but Sam is unconvinced. He's found no evidence that links Benoy Sen with the murder. As a result, he finds himself embroiled not only in the politics of Empire but in the cutthroat rivalries within the British expatriate community. Mukherjee has produced a well researched and vivid historical setting, a complex plot that keeps the reader guessing, and vividly drawn characters. The unflinching acknowledgement of the rank injustices of colonialism is balanced by touches of mordant humor.
Mukherjee now has a contract to produce a series of mysteries featuring Sam Wyndham and his Bengali Sergeant, "Surrender-not" Banerjee.
Click HERE for a review from Mystery Tribune.com.
Click HERE for an interview with the author from Indian Express.com.
Click HERE for a * review from Publishers Weekly.
Click HERE for a review from Criminal Element.com.
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