Talking Location With… Caroline McGhie: NORTH NORFOLK
Crime mystery set in CALCUTTA
30th September 2025
The Burning Grounds by Abir Mukherjee, crime mystery set in Calcutta.
Book 6 in the Wyndham and Banerjee series
THE BURNING GROUNDS is the award winning novel from the author of the British Book Awards Crime Thriller of the Year 2025, HUNTED
“Calcutta is a rather unique place…. The worst of humanity tends to wash up on our shores: Pathan cut-throats, Bihari smugglers, Sikh assassins and more Scots than you can shake a stick at…”
The sleuthing duo have been separated for a couple of years, because Surendranath Banerjee has been losing his heart to a French woman in France. He is back now, much to Sam Wyndham’s surprise. The latter is still working for the police but he is in a lacklustre place with his job at the Imperial Police Force, based at Lal Bazaar.
Wyndham is alerted that the body of a very wealthy Indian local – known as JP – which has been dumped unceremoniously on the ghats, his throat slit; he is surprised when he is appointed to investigate. Banerjee, meanwhile, is concerned for the safety of his cousin, Dolly (otherwise known as Sushmita-di), who seems to have disappeared without a trace from her place of work – The Golden Bengal Ladies Photographic Studios.
A famous actress is town and filming is taking place, adding another element to the story.
The two meet up, an uneasy regrouping but soon they are committed to their investigations, slotting back into a relationship that is tempered with wry humour and banter. They enter Dolly’s workplace in the dead of night, someone is spying on them and a fire erupts but not before they can see the place has been ransacked. They visit the family of the deceased and find that perhaps the man wasn’t quite who he seemed to be. The unfolding stories are told from each man’s point of view.
The author writes with humour and great observation, quipping (gently but assertively) about the vagaries of British rule at the time. His character laments, however, the inability of the Indians to take the lead from the British and form an orderly queue .
The author takes his readers on a tour of the city, really evoking the feel of place and time, contrasting, for example, the White Town, with its whitewashed churches, representing the empiric occident, with Kumartuli, which embodies “all that was its antithesis” with its warren of winding streets, huts colour and noise.
And he also mentions the wonderful tale of the Maharaja of Alwar and his purchase of ten Rolls Royce cars – google it, it’s wonderful story.
This is a wonderfully penned series that gets better with each new title. The novels are full of wit and entertaining witticisms, highlighting also incidents and issues facing the Indian people during the Raj years, all set within a good storyline. Calcutta in the later 1920s, described as ‘a fever dream’ of a city, comes through loud and clear, with, for example a great side trip to Bishnupore (renowned for its great temples). There is much to enjoy (and learn) in this novel.
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