SMOKE AND ASHES : ‘A BRILLIANTLY CONCEIVED MURDER MYSTERY’ C.J. SANSOM

Captain Sam Wyndham and his sidekick Surrender-Not Banerjee return in this prize-winning historical crime series set in 1920s Calcutta.. India 1921. Haunted by his memories of World War I Captain Sam Wyndham is battling a serious addiction to opium that he must keep secret from his superiors in the Calcutta police force. When Sam is summoned to investigate a grisly murder he is stunned at the sight of the body: he’s seen this before. Last night in a drug addled haze he stumbled across a corpse with the same ritualistic injuries. It seems like there’s a deranged killer on the loose. Unfortunately for Sam the corpse was in an opium den—and revealing his presence there could cost him his career. With the aid of his quick-witted Indian Sergeant Surrender-Not Banerjee Sam must try to solve the two murders all the while keeping his personal demons secret before somebody else turns up dead.