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.