Move over Nordic Noir, Indian Noir surprises!

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Smoke and Ashes (Sam Wyndham #3) by Abir Mukherjee     

My second reading of Abir Mukherjee's murder mystery novel set against related socioeconomic and political conditions in 1920's India, continues to  enthrall. I am totally smitten with the goings on of former Scotland Yard detective Captain Sam Wyndham and his co policeman, Surendranath (Surrender-Not) Bannerjee 
As always Mukherjee's knowledge of political events in 1920's Calcutta is well grounded.
Sam's struggle with opium addiction (a result of his psychological traumas of the Great War) continues. Not that it slows down his thinking processes but it does mean that sometimes he's in the wrong place at the wrong or right time depending on your point of view. This time Sam realizes that a ritualistic seeming murder is something he's witnessed already, in fact the night before at an opium den. And that's not a story your going to relate to your colleagues! A further murder of a nurse that has puzzling similarities and the take over of the investigation of the latter by military intelligence, has Sam and Bannerjee at a loss. All this against the background of a Calcutta preparing for a visit by the Prince of Wales--a security nightmare.
Once again a tautly charged crime thriller that drew me in and has left me wanting more! Bring on the fourth novel soon, please! 

 A NetGalley ARC

*****

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