[Review] Abir Mukherjee: 'A Necessary Evil'

'A Necessary Evil' by Abir Mukherjee is the second book in the Sam Wyndham series set in India in the years after the horrors of First World War.

Captain Sam Wyndham, formerly from Scotland Yard, and Sergeant 'Surrender-not' Banerjee of the Calcutta Police Force are tasked with escorting Adhir, crown prince of Sambalpore. Then the crown prince is shot and killed, apparently by a religious assassin. As a matter of professional pride, Wyndham and Banerjee want to find out who's behind the assassination.

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The clues lead them to Sambalpore, a small exotic semi-independent state in Northeastern India. It is a state made wealthy by its diamond mines, much coveted by the Anglo-Indian Diamond Company. The crown prince was adamant to modernize his country, but tradition, religion and superstition were very much against those ideas.

So, who was responsible for the killing? Was it his own younger brother who was now in line to be the next maharajah? Was it someone who did not want others to find out that proceeds of the diamond mines were siphoned away? And what is the role of the enigmatic and beautiful half-Indian half-English Miss Annie Grant? Wyndham and Banerjee slowly unravel the plot.

1920's India is already a time of change and Abir Mukherjee beautifully describes that change. We are vividly drawn into that lost world of empire that is now part of our collective memory. Mukherjee is able to show us that India shouldn't only be seen in an Euro-centric way, but also in an India-centric way. Doing so enriches us all.