A Rising Man
Abir Mukherjee
2016
4/5 stars
In 1919, former Scotland Yard detective Captain Sam Wyndham accepts a post as Detective Inspector in Calcutta's branch of the Imperial Police Force. Wyndham, mentally and emotionally drained from his time in the trenches combined with the loss of his wife, has a dependency on morphine and opium to help him sleep, a cynical attitude toward life in general, and is a long way from understanding how things work in British-ruled India. His first case is to solve the murder of a senior British official -- one that sees him struggle to navigate the unwritten rules of social, political, and racial relationships. A known Bengali revolutionary seems the most likely culprit, but he convinces Wyndham of his innocence, sending the Captain digging into corners better left alone.
This, Mukherjee's debut novel, is excellently written, with beautiful descriptions, solid prose, and well-drawn characters. It is narrated first-person by Wyndham, and done so well that the reader becomes invested in the life and career of the morally grey protagonist. I was grabbed immediately, and found the entire experience compelling and completely enjoyable.
I can't give it a full five stars, as there were a few uneven bits here and there. In addition, Mukherjee has a lady wearing a skirt that shows her calves, probably thinking that the flapper days had arrived by this time. On the contrary, British ladies' fashion dictated skirts to be a modest ankle-length until quite a bit later, and even then it was not a universal style, but that of "the Bright Young Things" and their imitators.
Despite this, I whole-heartedly recommend this historical-noir and am eager to read the next in the series.
