Dismissed and disgraced Kolkata detective Kamil Rahman moves to London to shake off his past but he soon finds himself attempting to solve another murder, and to his amazement finds the events are connected, and that people have followed him to London.

A competently constructed first novel with an interesting scenario. ( )

Parajalt põnev ja (minu jaoks) meeldivalt värske etnilise kiiksuga lugu, mis toimub vaheldumisi Kalkuttas ja Londonis. Päris mitu korda üllatas ja lõpplahendus oli samuti veidi ebaharilik. Kindlasti jätkan järgmisega. ( )

Kamil Rahman is not a particularly good waiter. As the novel opens, he is struggling to fold napkins into helmet shapes to adorn the Bengali restaurant in Brick Lane where he has been working for the last few weeks. His job there is a temporary arrangement. His real calling was as a policeman, and back home in Kolkata he had risen to the rank of Sub Inspector, aided perhaps by deference to his father who is now retired but had been Commissioner.

He is called upon to lead the investigation into one of the highest profile cases the city has seen in recent years when a leading Bollywood star is found murdered in his luxurious hotel suite. Rahman makes progress in the case but instead of receiving the anticipated praise, he incurs the wrath of the Deputy Commissioner who appointed him to the case. It becomes clear that an early result is required, and the speed with which the case is resolved is more important than finding the actual culprit. When Rahman’s investigation implicates prominent figures in Kolkata society, he finds himself first threatened, and then framed, hustled out of the police force and threatened.

He flees to Britain where family connections offer him stopgap employment in the restaurant, where he struggles to adjust to his drastically revised lifestyle. However, while helping with the catering for a private party held by a wealthy businessman (who also happens to be both a family friend and financial backer of the restaurant), held at a massive house on the Bishop’s Avenue (just down the road from my locale of Muswell Hill, although, unaccountably, the author fails to mention that key aspect), he finds himself drawn into another murder investigation.

That synopsis may make it all sound rather frenetic, but that is a false impression. The story moves between the present day in London and Rahman’s experiences in Kolkata a few months earlier. Chowdhury manages the parallel unfolding of the plots very smoothly. The characters are amusing, but very plausible. I am hoping that this will proves to be the first in a series. ( )

This started well, but I ended up skimming the second half. It didn't seem very realistic - the way Kamil contaminated the UK crime scene and thus destroyed evidence without repercussions from the police rang untrue for example. The two halves of the story and timelines (Kolkata/London) of course turned out to be connected. I was disappointed with the ending - as another reviewer has noted, Kamil started out perhaps naive, but at least with his integrity intact; by the end he has stooped to the level of seemingly everyone else.

Depressing. ( )

All Kamil Rahman wanted to be was a detective like his father, honest and serving the law. He seemed to have it all, promotion, a beautiful fiancee and the opportunity to investigate a high profile murder in Kolkata. Then it all crashed down around him, he lost his job, his reputation and the woman he loved and now he is working illegally as a waiter in the London restaurant owned by family friends. However when a billionaire is murdered at a party Kamil is working at his worlds collide and instinct takes over.
I didn't expect this book to be as good as it turned out to be after reading the first third or so. The pace is quite slow and there is a lot of language which can be difficult for someone who doesn't understand Hindi. However this adds to the authenticity and the plot seems very far-fetched suddenly takes an unexpected and quite mundane turn which actually makes it more enjoyable. The culture-clash aspects are handled really well, particularly the sexual exploitation of both sexes in a #metoo reference and the 'western' behaviour - I loved the bit where Rahman shaved off his moustache! Hopefully there will be more ( )