Abir Mukherjee

They were all British and American authors writing about Germans and Russians.

It seemed we had a bit of a blind spot when it came to our own history, about our British history or American history.

And that's why I wanted to effectively send a British man to India.

Well, that's a wonderful question and I am glad you asked because that story has evolved.

I originally felt I couldn't write it from an Indian's point of view.

When I was starting out, this was the first thing I'd ever written.

A Rising Man was the first book I'd ever written.

And I really didn't feel comfortable or confident enough to write realistically

from the Indian point of view, which I think probably says something about integration and multiculturalism.

I felt more comfortable writing from the white Englishman's point of view than I did from the Indian's point of view.

Add to that issues such as the fact that I needed my detective to be able to comment on all levels of that society.

And it

Surendranath, Sergeant Banerjee, just wouldn't have had access to everything that I'd want him to see.

Whereas Sam, as a white detective, would have access to government, to princes, all the way down to prostitutes.

And so it worked on that level.

But it also, I have to be honest with you, I started it because I didn't feel confident writing from a different point of view.

Now, book five, which I'm writing at the moment...

We are going to hear the voice of Surendranath for the first time.

He will be narrating probably about half of the story.

And there you are.