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Smoke and Ashes: Book summary and reviews of Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee

Smoke and Ashes

by Abir Mukherjee

Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee X
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee
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  • Published Mar 2019
    352 pages
    Genre: Mysteries

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Book Summary

Captain Sam Wyndham and his sidekick Surrender-Not Banerjee return in this prize-winning historical crime series set in 1920s Calcutta.

India, 1921. Haunted by his memories of World War I, Captain Sam Wyndham is battling a serious addiction to opium that he must keep secret from his superiors in the Calcutta police force.

When Sam is summoned to investigate a grisly murder, he is stunned at the sight of the body: he's seen this before. Last night, in a drug addled haze, he stumbled across a corpse with the same ritualistic injuries. It seems like there's a deranged killer on the loose. Unfortunately for Sam, the corpse was in an opium den - and revealing his presence there could cost him his career.

With the aid of his quick-witted Indian Sergeant, Surrender-Not Banerjee, Sam must try to solve the two murders, all the while keeping his personal demons secret, before somebody else turns up dead.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Mukherjee, who only gets better and better with each book, has established himself as a leading historical mystery writer." - Publishers Weekly

"It is the flamboyant evocation of 1920s Calcutta that makes this such a mesmerising read." - The Guardian

"Lush world-building, intricate character work, and remarkable wit. Mukherjee's work is playful while also offering a serious look at colonialism and cross-culture mystery." - CrimeReads

"Smoke and Ashes is Abir Mukherjee's best book yet; a brilliantly conceived murder mystery set amidst political and social turmoil. Beautifully crafted." - C. J. Sansom, New York Times bestselling author

This information about Smoke and Ashes was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Abir Mukherjee Author Biography

https://abirmukherjee.com/

Abir Mukherjee has spent the last twenty years working in finance. A Rising Man, his debut novel, won the Harvill Secker/Daily Telegraph crime writing competition and is the first in a new series starring Captain Sam Wyndham and "Surrender-Not" Banerjee. Abir is married with two small children and lives in London.

Name Pronunciation
Abir Mukherjee: AH-beer MOO-ker-jee

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