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A Necessary Evil

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A Necessary Evil

By: Abir Mukherjee
Narrated by: Malk Williams
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India, 1920. Captain Wyndham and Sergeant Banerjee of the Calcutta Police Force investigate the dramatic assassination of a Maharajah's son, in the sequel to A Rising Man.

The fabulously wealthy kingdom of Sambalpore is home to tigers, elephants, diamond mines, and the beautiful Palace of the Sun. But when the heir to the throne is assassinated in the presence of Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant "Surrender-Not" Banerjee, they discover a kingdom riven with suppressed conflict. Prince Adhir was a modernizer whose attitudes - and romantic relationships - may have upset the more religious elements of his country, while his brother - now in line to the throne - appears to be a feckless playboy.

As Wyndham and Banerjee desperately try to unravel the mystery behind the assassination, they become entangled in a dangerous world where those in power live by their own rules - and those who cross their paths pay with their lives. They must find a murderer, before the murderer finds them....

©2018 Abir Mukherjee (P)2018 Audible, Inc. Crime Fiction Fiction Historical International Mystery & Crime Mystery Police Procedural Assassin Royalty Crime

Featured Article: Best Mystery Series—Listens That'll Take You Right to the Crime Scene


While a standalone mystery is great when you're in the mood for a one-and-done, sometimes you want to feed your craving with an entire mystery series—knowing there's a world and characters you can keep coming back to for the satisfaction of solving crimes. With audiobooks, you get the added bonus of sinking deeper into the setting, clues, and suspects as the story is performed for you, so you'll feel like you're alongside detectives, ready to bust a case.

Featured Article Best Mystery Series Listens That'll Take You Right to the Crime Scene

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Rich Historical Detail • Complex Mystery • Fantastic Narration • Likable Detective Team • Great Plot Twists
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Slow burn with twists and turns and I couldn’t guess the person behind the murders. Surprising and intriguing.

Great mystery!

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A good second story: entertaining and interesting.

The voiceover actor mangles words from Bangla and Hindi, which is distracting and annoying. Were I the author, I would be upset that the company that recorded the book didn't either find someone who could pronounce the words correctly, or prep the actor they chose.

Story is good, voice-over not so much

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May add more later, but I am really enjoying this series. It combines great mysteries with wonderful characters and interesting history.

Great performance and a compelling story.

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My husband turned me on to these books. He loves spy and crime novels and I like historical novels. This is a combination of the two and so well written. I found myself dwelling on the characters and possible outcome while I was busy doing other things. Thank you to the author for first rate entertainment!

Extremely captivating read (or listen!)

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Love this series so far! However, I just learned they changed narrators for the third book so I will not be buying it from Audible. I’m really disappointed because the narrator (Malk Williams) for books 1 and 2 was excellent in general but also provided perfectly subtle accents and gender adaptations that made the listening smooth and musical. I highly recommend books 1 & 2 with Malk Williams!!!

Fantastic! But no Book #3 for me thru Audible.

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So many mysteries seem to try to outdo each other with other with long descriptions of gore rather than good characters, atmosphere & plot. Abir Mukhergee tells a great tale with fun and a wonderful sleuth Sam Wyndham. His hero Philip Kerr would be proud.

Great read, excellent narrator

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Captain Sam Wyndham continues to seek the truth in the face of corruption and political intrigue. This time Sam is faced with investigating a murder of a Prince. A Necessary Evil is a good book. A mystery set in India in the face of British Colonialism during the 1920s. The writing of Abir Mukherjee wonderfully describes India and the culture at that time. I did not enjoy this novel as much as I enjoyed A Rising Man, but it was still a good book.

Political Intrigue

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I loved the first book and the second one is just as good. I am certainly going to read the next installment. This book is very atmospheric, has great plot and plot twists. Highly recommended

I am loving this series

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Enjoyed the narration and overall plot. Surprising turns lead to the conclusion. Not easy to guess the ending.

Not quite as good as 1st in series but still good

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I was really looking forward to this second book by Mukherjee, I loved the first, crime detection set in colonial India, good suspense and lots of information/irony about the colonial setting. The first set up the unlikely but growing rapport between an ex-WWI Englishman and his younger Indian subordinate. This one does not keep up with the character development of the latter, a flaw for me, but again offers a rich historical setting with good suspense.

Second best but very good

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