this is a slower going crime mystery set in 1919 in calcutta and while it’s a crime book it’s also a huge study of the time, place and people more so than an actual crime book - or at least that how it felt to me.

we have those characters that all have personal issues they are fighting through and i enjoyed reading those personal struggles a lot - which sounds horrible! but what i mean is that there author did such a fantastic job with making those character so human so blood-and-flash feeling because of how issue heavy they all where!

i only wish we would have also gotten some sections of the sergeant who was called “surrender—not” because his real name was too hard to pronounce for the english.

which wow i felt that!
having people come to you country and being to lazy to try and pronounce your name? such a small and seemingly insignificant detail but so true and so horrible at the same time. there are very few other things someone can do to show how truly little they care for you as a person when they don’t even try to pronounce your name but rather just give you a easier to pronounced “nickname” of your real name to make their life easier!
such a small detail but so important and such a true and realistic aspect of history!

was it the best crime mystery i ever read?
no not at all!
it was very clear what was going kn very, very early on!

but was it still a fanatic book to read even though the mystery aspects weren’t the best?
absolutely!

for me it was more a historical fiction read with such great historical facts and details and i highly recommend it!