A Rising Man: A Novel (Wyndham & Banerjee Mysteries) Paperback – April 10, 2018

Captain Sam Wyndham is the new man on the British police force in Calcutta, a veteran from Scotland Yard. Numbed by the loss of his wife and the horrors of his combat experiences in the Great War, he depends on morphine for stress-relief, a bit like Sherlock Holmes. But unlike Holmes, he doesn't make lightening deductions. Fleeting observations simmer in his unconscious until he begins to see his way forward...All in all, he's a very likable, very human detective. Being new in India, Sam hasn't developed the contempt for the natives common among his fellow officers. He even starts favoring the company of his native sergeant Banerjee over his arrogant British subordinate Digby.The murder of a rising man in British administration is Sam's first case. Almost simultaneously he gets another case thrown at him, an attack on a train that looks like a robbery gone wrong. Sam and his men investigate systematically, which makes this an engrossing police procedural on the surface. But politics muddy the waters at every turn. Insurrection is brewing in India, simultaneously with Ghanaian-inspired non-violent resistance. This novel weaves politics into the plot with finesse and offers a fascinating picture of the Raj.There are some terrific action scenes. Sam, being battle trained in fighting and strategy, makes a great action hero. He also has a wry sense of humor, which emerges in witty dialog and in Sam's sardonic stream of consciousness. Abir Mukherjee is really a very good writer to give us such an engaging and fun protagonist.A Rising Man is an impressive first novel, and heralds a series that promises to be addictive. I look forward to the next book.

It is always so rewarding to find an author who is new to me writing a novel set in a time and location I'm unfamiliar with. In this case the time is 1919 and the location is Calcutta, India. Abir Mukherjee has made the time and location as much a part of the novel as it's possible to be. All of India is simmering under the surface with resentment and outright hostility toward the British who rule over their country. Change and self-government are not taking place at a pace desired by many of the Indian population and there is always work for the military police secret service to do. Into this hotbed of unease steps Captain Sam Wyndham, formerly of Scotland Yard, now a Detective Inspector in the Imperial Police Force. Disillusioned by all he had seen in the war, disheartened by the loss of his wife and all his family, Wyndham is making a new start in a place completely different from the grey, rainy England of his birth.This first case for Wyndham begins with the discovery of the body of a white sahib in a neighborhood where he should not have been, especially after dark. Why was Alexander MacAuley murdered and what should the police make of the note found stuffed into his mouth? The deeper Wyndham digs the closer his case comes to stepping into the territory of the infamous Section H, military secret police.The different culture, geography and historical time period all combine with well defined characters to make this an intriguing and enjoyable reading experience. I'm looking forward to the second book in the series.

The book was fast moving in the plot. It also describes Calcutta at a specific period in time. Interesting and

Interesting background but does suffer from poor editing which cannot be overlooked since this book is not cheap. Main problem is the protagonist who was all over the place and behaved more like a fool than a supposedly competent detective. I am also fed up with tortured hero. Too wordy at times as the writer lectured on the injustice in India. Would not continue as not worth the price

Well-written, suspenseful detective story set in Calcutta just after WWI. The author, Abir Mukherjee, creates a realistic backdrop in British-ruled Calcutta as the forces for Indian independence gain power. The protagonist is a British detective, newly arrived in Calcutta as he tries to forget the horrors of the trenches and the loss of his wife. In his drive to solve crimes, he gradually comes to value the intelligence and integrity of his Indian sargeant. The author makes a compelling case against imperialism, as it loses its claim to moral superiority over the native population, but it is not heavy-handed. The characters are fully realized, the setting intriguing, and the quick pace keeps readers' interest.

Well I have come to this series late but at least that means I have four more ready to read and that is a good thing because A Rising Man is excellent.Captain Sam Wyndham is a Scotland Yard detective damaged, in the way of many men in 1919, by his experiences in the war, the loss of his wife to Spanish flu, and an addiction to the opium used in his medical care. He moves to Calcutta and joins the Police force there in an attempt to begin a new life.The book opens with a murder which Sam is determined to solve despite huge obstacles along the way. He is assisted by Sergeant Banerjee who turns out to be a really likeable offsider, kept busy mostly in trying to keep Sam alive. The two develop an entertaining partnership.The author writes exceedingly well and creates the atmosphere of Calcutta under the Raj perfectly. The heat, the humidity, the crowded streets are palpable and the extreme differences in the way people lived was made very clear. I can see that Sam, with his slightly more moderate views on life, is going to have a few very serious struggles along the way. I am very much looking forward to reading the next book!

It’s a very enjoyable read.

Love it! The Indian setting and atmosphere are described wonderfully. The English do no come out too well but then they were not at their best in India. Where and when ARE they at their best?

The book itself is quite riveting and introduces the characters extremely easily. The plot is good and the setting is excellent. What made me give it a five star rating however, is the witty writing. It was awesome!,. Read this book!

Gut lesbares Englisch, schöne Geschichte. Habe mir in der Hälfte den 2. Band geladen, Er eigentlich als "Unterwegs-Buch" gedacht, aber ich bin nir schwer davon los gekommen :-)

What a delight. Thrilling! Superb prose, great characters and dialogue, a flawed hero, amazing pacing and rhythm, and a delicious complex mystery of my favourite kind: The pieces are presented as the story develops, and you arrive at the solution along with the detective! Awesome! And it's Mukherjee's first book! What a joy, and a very satisfying historical experience as well. 4.5 stars, WELL DONE!Apparently, Abir Mukherjee became a noir fan after a friend forced him to read Gorky Park. Good choice!And bless his silver-tongue, Joseph Knox recommended "A Rising Man" to me just last week!(Ten Stars: Joseph Knox Sirens and The Smiling Man)As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you.This is such a great introduction to the last days of the Raj, wrapped in a murder and other mysteries. Politics abound, but the policeman pushes forward relentlessly. This reminds me of Renko in Gorky Park in many ways. Wonderful.There is a minor romantic interest in the lovely Annie, and some supporting characters to provide clues and red herrings, all perfectly pitched and balanced to provide great entertainment throughout the entire book. No lags, no overwriting, no padding, no silly cartoon plots or characters, and with a satisfying conclusion, this is the Real Deal. I will be starting Book #2 "A Necessary Evil" in a few minutes!There are so many fine quotations in this book, so much care and thought, and almost my favourite kind of gumshoe: the "philosopher-detective". What a delight!Here are a few -It was the architecture of domination and it all seemed faintly absurd. The Palladian buildings with their columns and pediments, the toga-clad statues of Englishmen long deceased, and the Latin inscriptions on everything from palaces to public lavatories. Looking at it all, a stranger could be forgiven for thinking that Calcutta had been colonised by Italians rather than Englishmen.The Raj BhavanNothing, save maybe for war, quite prepares you for Calcutta. Not the horrors recounted by returning India-men in the smoke-filled rooms of Pall Mall, not the writings of journalists and novelists, not even a five-thousand-mile sea voyage with stops in Alexandria and Aden. Calcutta, when it arrives, is on a scale more alien than anything the imagination of an Englishman can conjure up. Clive of India had called it the most wicked place in the Universe, and his was one of the more positive reviews.Sam considers the opium from local Calcutta Chinese...... we’d fought two wars against their [China's] emperors for the right to peddle the damn stuff [opium] in their country. And peddle it we did. So much so that we managed to make addicts out of a quarter of the male population. If you thought about it, that probably made Queen Victoria the greatest drug peddler in history.Upon meeting a beautiful young woman, Sam thinks:How does a man survive three years of bombing, shelling and machine-gun fire and yet still tremble with nerves when asking a woman out for lunch?I'd feel the same way meeting this beauty:Military intelligence had granted the Commissioner’s request .... ‘Any and all assistance’ would be provided to us. That was a nice touch; like someone punching you in the face, then asking what they could do to help stop the bleeding.Digby:... all mouth and no trousers.Reminds me of "All hat and no cattle", and other sayings -all bark and no bite; all bluff and bluster; all booster, no payload; all crown, no filling; all foam, no beer; all ham, no let; all hammer, no nail; all icing, no cake; all lime and salt, no tequila; all mouth and no trousers; all mouth and trousers; all shot, no powder; all sizzle and no steak; all talk; all talk and no action; all wax and no wick; all motion and no meat; all show, no go.Byrne on "Moral Superiority":Now how d’ye suppose one hundred and fifty thousand British keep control of three hundred million Indians?’ ... ‘Moral superiority.’ He let the phrase sink in. ‘For such a small number to rule over so many, the rulers need to project an aura of superiority over the ruled. Not just physical or military superiority mind, but also moral superiority. More importantly, their subjects must in turn believe themselves to be inferior; that they need to be ruled for their own benefit. ... Why else would we build that bloody great monstrosity the Victoria Memorial out of white marble and make it bigger than the Taj Mahal?'The Victoria Memorial, CalcuttaThe Infamous Black Hole of Calcutta was at Fort William.As Sam, Digby and Bannerjee search for the truth ....April 13, 1919, Amritsar. This was Baisakhi Day. That evening, a little after 5 pm, Brigadier General Dyer had ordered his small troop of soldiers to fire indiscriminately and without warning at a crowd of more than 20,000 people — men, women and children — who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh. The official death toll was 379 but given the size of the gathering, the actual toll could well have been over a thousand.Brigadier General Dyer, "The Butcher of Amritsar"Notes:1.0% "... apparently, Mukherjee became a noir fan after a friend forced him to read Gorky Park. Good choice."4.0% "... already Very Good! This was recommended to me by Joseph Knox, author of the extraordinary Sirens and The Smiling Man "30.0% "... terrific. So nice to find an intelligent, interesting book with fine prose."