Smoke and Ashes, by Abir Mukherjee
Book three of Abir Mukherjee’s vastly entertaining crime
series featuring Captain Sam Wyndham of the British imperial Police Force in
Calcutta, and his trusty sidekick Surendranath (called Surrender-not, because
how’s any British chap supposed to pronounce that absurd name) commences in
late 1921: mild-mannered but persistent
little lawyer Mohandas Ghandi has founded his Congress Party and decreed that
its legions of members should register their disapproval of British Rule by
‘Peaceful Protest’, a euphemism for followers to clog up transport networks ,
thus bringing Calcutta commerce to a grinding halt whenever they get the word.
The authorities, particularly the police, are feeling the
strain: the jails are full and there
have been unexpected resignations among their own ranks by those who feel the power
and worth of Ghandi-ji’s logic: there is
nothing more effective than peaceful, non-violent protest, and there are always
the jackals of the Press hanging around to report on any savage lapses of
professionalism by the authorities – and there are many, especially in the army
which has been brought in to restore order where the police have failed, for
the military is staffed with Sikhs and Ghurkas, ruthless and famed warriors
with an utter contempt for the local Indians, for whom they feel no kinship.
It’s
a sticky situation, old chap, compounded even more by the fact that Captain Sam
is nearly caught by the Vice Squad on their raid of an Opium Den where he has
been stupefying himself for most of the night.
He is forced to make a hair-raising escape across the rooftops – and
discovers a dying man, eyeless and stabbed on both sides of his chest. Sam is unsure whether he’s having an opium
nightmare or if what he has found is real – until after his lucky escape to
safety, where another body killed in the same fashion is discovered two days
later.
And
to prove that all the Gods of the Indian Pantheon are laughing mightily at
British expense, the Powers-That-Be in Whitehall have decided to shore up the
Raj with a visit from the future king-emperor, Prince Edward, Prince of
Wales: a great show of British might and
power will surely convince all those natives, low caste and high, where they
really stand. Sam is a slave to his
addiction, an ‘Opium Fiend’;
Surrender-Not, scion of one of Calcutta’s proudest families, has been
exiled because he is working for the Raj, but together they must try to avert
the inevitable bloodshed caused by Peaceful Protest and Prince Edward’s Christmas
Goodwill Visit, not to mention the ritual killings, all of which display great
purpose and planning.
Yet
again Abir Mukherjee displays his mastery of the era, melding the crime genre
satisfactorily with the explosive events of British and Indian history of
almost a century ago. His two unlikely
protagonists are so convincing that, along with Surrender-not, I hope Sam
cleans himself up for the next instalment!
FOUR STARS
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