Book Review
Title: Kolkata Noir by Tom Vater
Genre: Crime
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I recently read The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu which I really enjoyed so I was looking forward to getting into Kolkata Noir. The novel opens in Calcutta in 1999 as we see Paulami Roychowdhury cheating on her husband with Richard Dunlop and she also plans to assassinate her husband. We are introduced to Inspectress Madhurima Mitra who is trying to track down both Paulami and Richard possibly as suspects in the murder of Abir. The pair end up at the home of her brother-in-law, Kishore, who tells them they need to get out of Calcutta as soon as possible because the police are looking for them and they leave immediately. Madhurima is also working with another foreigner called Becker, who knew Richard in the hopes of tracking him down along with his lover.
Becker and Madhu follow Kishore down to Puri where Richard and Paulami are hiding out. Richard and Paulami have had an argument because she doesn’t want to go to England and he does. During the time where Richard is out of the hotel they speak to Paulami who despite wanting to confess to setting up her husband’s murder doesn’t but they keep an eye on the couple. Becker knows that Richard is lying about something but he doesn’t know what but during the time they are trying to figure this out Kishore murders Paulami making it look like suicide in order to inherit his brother’s money probably to feed his opium addiction. Madhu and Becker realise that the brother is behind it and set an elaborate trap to capture him and they succeed, giving Madhu the reputation she wanted but over the course of the investigation she has developed some feelings for Becker but they don’t act on it before parting ways, we then jump to Kolkata in 2019.
In Kolkata we are introduced to the brothers, Aubrey and Magnus, Aubrey right now is posing as a foreign sadhu known as Firangi Baba in order to make money. Meanwhile, their father has hired Becker to track them down and make sure they are ok as he believes that they are in danger because they are attempting to make a lot of money and this might make them targets and Becker agrees to track them down which means he might be able to see Madhu again. He quickly finds the brothers and lands himself in the middle of another murder investigation, this mystery is resolved very quickly leaving one brother dead and the other being shipped back home with Becker. Becker and Madhu can’t reconnect like he hoped as in the twenty years they’ve been apart she has gotten married and had a daughter, Devi but they will always have Calcutta which was a little heart-breaking for me before we jump forward in time once more to 2039 where the city is now called Killkata.
In 2039 the world specifically Kolkata has gone to hell being renamed Killkata when Becker receives a call from Devi who is in Scotland asking for help to get her mother out of their and he agrees using the last of his favours and coming out of retirements to retrieve Madhu. Madhu, however, is dealing with her husband’s kidnapping and the people holding him hostage want plane tickets out of Killkata. Madhu can’t get them but she unaware that Becker is on his way with two tickets, a circus family is behind the kidnapping although it is only Joy, Joy’s sister Meeda learns that Joy is planning to kill Madhu’s husband and seeks out Becker. Together they come up with a plan for getting him back and they succeed but they are left with the problem of only having two tickets and Killkata is going to be flooded soon. Becker gives up his ticket for both Madhu and her husband can be with their daughter and the remaining circus family and Becker flee to Madhu’s home to escape the flooding. For years they live peacefully there cut of from the rest of the world until Madhu arrives to be with Becker 40+ years after they first met. Overall, I really enjoyed Kolkata Noir and I can’t wait to read more from Tom Vater in the future.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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