Next on my reading list is…drum roll… A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

Feeling punk on a Saturday morning is no bueno, my friends, but at least I have a new book to start reading! The windows are open. The sun is shining. The wind isn’t blowing! Yay!

I mentioned this book in my post Legacy, Science, and Coincidence: A Podcast Roundup. After hearing the author interviewed by readers on the BBC Bookclub, I knew I wanted to give it a try. It’s murder mystery (not my fave) set in Calcutta 1919 (a place I know little to nothing about).

I wasn’t much interested until I heard a reader say that the book gave so much information about the time and place, that it felt more like historical fiction than a murder mystery. Then another reader, who grew up in the area, said that the scenes were so accurate to her memory of the place, that she felt like she had gone back there.

“The Rowland Acts. They’d been passed the previous month and allowed us to lock up anyone we suspected of terrorism or revolutionary activities. We could hold them for up to two years without trial. From a copper’s perspective, it made things nice and simple. The Indian’s, of course, had reacted with fury, and I can’t say I blamed them.”

That sounds awfully familiar.

I’m about 80 pages in this morning and enjoying it. It feels a bit like Sherlock Holmes, but I’m enjoying the context of the mystery. There’s a lot about British colonization, home rule, and so called “terrorism” so far. And I’m getting know the main character’s background.

I’ll be here with a cup of tea and A Rising Man all day long. Feeling punk is the perfect excuse not to work in the yard on a day like this!