Abir Mukherjee: The Shadows of Men, Vintage/ Harvill Secker London, (Penguin Random House) 9781787300606 Trade Paperback, pub date:  November 2021 

Those who have been following my reviews know that I am a big fan of Abir Mukherjee’s atmospheric crime novels set in 1920’s India featuring British detective Sam Wyndham and Indian police sergeant Surendranath Banerjee.  

The novels in the series have deservedly won several prizes and “The Shadow of Men”, the fifth in the series, publishing in November,  is set in Calcutta of 1923 with the beginning of uprisings between Muslims and Hindus during their fight for independence from the Raj. 

Sam and Suren recount in alternating chapters how Suren came to find himself accused of murdering a high standing Hindu theologian facing the death sentence. Their seemingly impossible task in trying to prove that the wrong man has been accused is a more opaque, complex plot than that of previous novels; at least that is how it felt to me. The second half of the book, with the plot unfolding, a clever ending and introducing new characters, had my full attention again.  Even if “The Shadow of Men” is not my favorite in the series, I really enjoyed that Surendranath took center stage this time and loved the read.

 

David Heska Wanbil Weiden: Winter Counts,  Ecco / Harper Collins UK, paperback, 9780062968951

 

“Winter Counts” is set in the Rosebud Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota, which immediately sets it apart from your ordinary crime novel.  It is also a sobering account of modern Native American life on a reservation dealing with unemployment, alcohol, opioid and heroin addiction. 

Shortlisted for the Edgar Award for First Novel and many other prizes, Weiden created a critical, terrific story with well-drawn out, very likeable characters that stayed with me for some time.

Virgil Wounded Horse works as an enforcer on the Rosebud reservation meaning he deals out justice using violence for those who have escaped the tribal or American legal system, employed by victims or their families.  Coming from a troubled, broken family himself, he is raising his nephew Nathan after his sister’s death. 

When Nathan nearly dies of an overdose, the reservations problem becomes suddenly very personal. Hired by a tribal member to investigate the narcotic trail pointing towards the Mexican cartel in Denver, Virgil teams up with his former girlfriend Marie Short Bear who once dated one of the suspected drug dealers.  The situation becomes truly twisted, when Nathan is used as a pawn in a crooked set up facing a serious prison sentence forcing Virgil to work with the US narcotic law enforcement to get his nephew out of an impossible situation.

“Winter Counts”  is an unusual debut I enjoyed immensely.

 

Ann Patchett: These Precious Days, Bloomsbury UK, Trade Paperback 9781526640956, pub date Nov. 23, 2021

Thanks to an early proof by Bloomsbury I was able to read Ann Patchett’s upcoming collection of essays titled “These Precious Days”, out in November.   I enjoyed “Commonwealth” so very much but I loved this deeply personal multi-facetted book of essays even more.  Patchett’s literary memoir really got under my skin, whether she is talking about her “Three Fathers” and how the women in her family like to marry more than once, her marriage to her husband Karl who is a medical doctor and a pilot or “Sisters”. 

As someone who worked in publishing most of her life, I loved the essays about her writing career and literary life;  her bookshop Parnassus in Nashville where she lives, her publishers, her  essay “Covers” rang so true  or “Reading Kate DiCamillo”.  

“There are no children here” explains why she has remained childless.

But my favorite essay is the one about her unexpected and deep friendship with Sooki which tore me up the most. “These Precious Days” and “A Day at the Beach” are a manifestation of friendship, love and generosity written with such honesty and raw emotion; I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes more than once.   Her spunk and wit are often found in the  much lighter essays, like “The First Thanksgiving” or “My Year of No Shopping” .

Go get a copy once the book comes out, highly recommend “These Precious Days” with my whole heart, she is a terrific and understandably much beloved author with that incomparable Southern warmth and openness.