Smoke and Ashes: ‘A brilliantly conceived murder mystery’ C.J. Sansom

Set in Calcutta in 1921, this is Book 3 in the multi-award-winning Sam Wyndham series. Wyndham is a British policeman, working in India and battling a serious addiction to opium. In this novel he gets involved in a series of gruesome murders and mutilations. He and his trusty sidekick, ‘Surrender- not’ Banerjee follow the clues but are severely hampered by the secret police who do not want them near the case. Sam and ‘Surrender-not’ are a good team, both clever in their own way, and in spite of Sam’s increasing addiction and Section H’s obstruction, they gradually get to the bottom of the whole nasty affair. I'd never read any of this series before and enjoyed this one so much I immediately searched out Book 1 (A Rising Man). I'm a notoriously hard marker but this deserves nothing less than 4 Stars.
Review by Freyja, Oundle Crime