The Pinnacle

Historical mystery novelist Mukherjee’s solid second contemporary (after Hunted) spotlights 50-year-old George Abercrombie, a washed-up American actor living in Mumbai and struggling in the shadow of his younger wife, Bollywood superstar Sweety Sahota. After Sweety abruptly cancels the pair’s joint BBC interview for a late-night meeting with a powerful filmmaker, George drowns his anger in alcohol and wakes up, hungover, to find Sweety dead in their penthouse. Lurching between panic, guilt, and self-preservation, he enlists his agent Sal and Sal’s fixer, Miss Singh, to keep him out of jail. As George scrambles to hide evidence and cobble together an alibi, Gemma Cairns, Sweety’s personal assistant, receives a call from someone threatening to release a sex tape of her and her politician lover, Ashok, unless she hands over Sweety’s laptop and password. While the police investigation deepens and George starts to unravel, Gemma is torn between the blackmailer’s demands, her own secrets, and Ashok’s ambitions. The narrative builds to a tense, surprising climax that smooths over some of the clumsier attempts at social critique that Mukherjee folds into the action. It’s an immersive mystery rich in place and character. Agent: Sam Copeland, RCW Literary. (June)