On A Positive Note

After the last post which possibly made it sound as though I never met a crime novel that I liked I thought I would write about a series that I am enjoying very much - the Sam Wyndham books by Amir Mukherjee. 

I first found the series when one of them was shortlisted for Historia magazine's Historical Novel of the Year in 2019. I was going to try and read the whole short list but that never happened, however I did blog about the ones I managed to get hold of and read here. The nominated Wyndham book was the third, rather than the first in the series, but rather than jump in part way through I got a Kindle or Audible version of the first book and played catch up. 

The novels are set in India, post WW1 and Mukherjee's main protagonist is Captain Sam Wyndham. Having fought through the war Wyndham at first returned to his pre war life as a detective at Scotland Yard, but is sent out to India to join the Indian Police Service after losing his wife in the Spanish Flu pandemic. He suffers from shell shock and has also, as a result of the painkillers used in his treatment for wounds received in battle, developed an addiction to Opium. (I was just getting rather sick of this affliction when Mukherjee sensibly sent Wyndham off to the hills to look for a cure in the latest book, which seems to have been successful. Hurrah!). 

There is a very fine line to be walked in these books. Many of the attitudes of the Indian Raj are rightly regarded with horror today and yet to be true to the times they have to be part of the novels, otherwise Mukherjee might just as well write fantasy. And Wyndham, as an Englishman, and a detective has to be part of the Raj establishment and reflect, and in some measure hold, those attitudes, while as the central character, retain the modern reader's sympathy. It's a tough balance but Mukherjee manages it well, with Wyndham only occasionally starting to doubt whether  beliefs he has never previously questioned are actually true. His doubts are underlined by two recurring characters; Annie, a half English half Indian woman with whom he enjoys an on/off romantic relationship and who, since she belongs neither wholly to the Raj nor wholly to the Indians is roundly despised by both sides; and his Indian subordinate 'Surrender Not' Bannerjee whose family, as the series moves on, is becoming more and more involved in India's struggle for Independence. 

Such tricky historical resonances  mean that it takes a brave writer to tackle what is a rich background against which to set murder mysteries and I venture to think that a white writer possibly couldn't get away with it. Mukherjee is a Scot of Asian heritage and to date he has walked the line with great skill. 

If you fancy giving them a go, Number One is A Rising Man and there are, so far, four altogether with the promise of more to come. If historical murder stories are your thing, and I realise they aren't everyone's cup of tea, then you might well enjoy these.