The Shadows of Men
A Novel
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4.5 • 30 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Award-winning crime novelist Abir Mukherjee is back with another brilliant mystery featuring police detective Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surrender-Not Banerjee, set in 1920s Calcutta.
Calcutta, 1923
When a Hindu theologian is found murdered in his home, the city is on the brink of all-out religious war. Can the officers of the Imperial Police Force—Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant “Surrender-Not” Banerjee—track down those responsible in time to stop a bloodbath?
Set at a time of heightened political tension, beginning in atmospheric Calcutta and taking the detectives all the way to bustling Bombay, the latest instalment in this remarkable series presents Wyndham and Banerjee with an unprecedented challenge. Will this be the case that finally drives them apart?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Increasing tensions in 1923 colonial India provide the backdrop for Edgar finalist Mukherjee's superb fifth mystery featuring Capt. Sam Wyndham and Det. Sgt. Surendranath Bannerjee of the Calcutta CID (after 2019's Death in the East). Lord Taggart, the Calcutta commissioner of police, gives Bannerjee an assignment he's required to keep secret, even from his friend Wyndham: keeping track of the movements and activities of Muslim politician Farid Gulmohamed. Taggart fears Gulmohamed may stoke unrest in Calcutta before the upcoming municipal elections, called by the British following Mahatma Gandhi's incarceration. The surveillance mission goes awry, leaving Bannerjee suspected of murdering Prashant Mukherjee, a Hindu religious leader, after he was found near the corpse and took steps to conceal the homicide. Under these adverse conditions, the investigators must solve the crime while averting a cataclysm of ethnic violence should a Muslim be accused of committing it. The pacing and twists are among the author's best work. This is a sterling example of a riveting whodunit plot coupled with a vivid portrayal of a seminal historical moment.
