The Burning Grounds
The gripping new mystery from the author of British Book Awards Crime Thriller of the Year 2025 HUNTED
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
'Compulsive reading. This is a master storyteller at the top of his game.' Ann Cleeves
'Historical crime fiction at its best' The Times
'An utterly spellbinding triumph from a master storyteller' Joseph O'Connor
In the Burning Ghats of Calcutta, where the dead are laid to rest, a man is found murdered, his throat cut from ear to ear.
The victim is a popular patron of the arts, a man who was adored by all. So, what was the motive for his murder? Despite being out of favour with the Imperial Police Force, Detective Sam Wyndham is dragged in to investigate and finds himself thrust into the glamorous but dangerous world of Indian cinema.
Meanwhile Surendranath Banerjee, recently returned from Europe after three years spent running from the fallout of his last case, is searching for a missing photographer. When the vanished woman is linked with Sam's murder investigation, the two men find themselves working together once again.
But can Wyndham and Banerjee put their differences aside to solve the case?
'Abir Mukherjee is doing something uniquely different in the crime genre...breathtaking' Peter May, Sunday Times bestseller, on The Shadows of Men
Readers love THE BURNING GROUNDS:
‘A wonderful addition to an exceptional series’
‘Incredibly exciting and action-packed’
‘A must-read for anyone who loves fiction at its best’
‘Beautifully written and a smashing story’
‘An engaging, atmospheric thriller with strong character development and a plot full of intrigue’
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mukherjee's talent for elevating genre tropes suffuses the stellar fifth installment of his 1920s-set Wyndham and Banerjee mystery series (after The Shadows of Men). It's been three years since British detective Sam Wyndham helped his onetime partner, Indian investigator Surendranath Banerjee, flee India after being falsely accused of attempted murder. The men have since fallen out of touch, owing in part to the painful dissolutions of their respective romantic relationships. They reunite, however, when wealthy British philanthropist J.P. Millick is found with his windpipe slit in an area of Calcutta used to build funeral pyres. Though Wyndham strained relationships with his colleagues on the Imperial Police Force after he helped Banerjee flee prosecution, military intelligence chief Dawson puts him in charge of investigating Millick's death and lures Banerjee back into the fold with a promise to track down his missing cousin, Dolly, if he cooperates. Mukherjee depicts the former partners' uneasy reunion with tenderness while peppering the core whodunit plot with a string of ingenious red herrings. It's another high-water mark for a series full of them.
