Abir Mukherjee: The Burning Grounds, Harvill Secker, hardbsck, pub date: Nov 2025

I happily devoured the proof of Abir Mukherjee's upcoming "The Burning Grounds" featuring Sam Wyndham, detective of the English Imperial Police in Calcutta in the 1920ties and his friend and former colleage Suren Banerjee, one of my favorite historical detective series.

When Sam is called to the burning grounds to find a wealthy patron of the arts with his throat slit,  just about to be cremated, the investigation leads him surprisingly to the world of the movies and a rising film star while Suren is called in by his family to search for his missing cousin, a female photographer. 

 The writing takes you into an India still ruled by the British but with increasing  resistance by the Indian people. Sam, with his distaste for his fellow countrymen still has his own demons to squash, substituting whiskey for opium. The plot is airtight as usual although I kind of guessed correctly towards the end....  I absolutely adore this atmospheric series with its personable detective duo and its many colorful, questionable  characters.