Sharadindu Bandyopadhay's Byomkesh Bakshi mysteries, featuring the expert inquisitor Byomkesh Bakshi, started a new era in Bengali popular literature. Set in Raj-era Calcutta, these stories starring the astute investigator and his chronicler companion Ajit are as riveting and amusing today as they were when they first appeared. Byomkesh's world is fascinating because of its present flavour, with superbly characterised characters and a brilliantly depicted pre-Independence metropolitan atmosphere. The stories, now available in English for the first time in a magnificent translation, will captivate every fan of crime fiction, young and old.