The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is an international competition that supports and celebrates the best adventure writing today. First awarded in 2016, the Prize recognizes published, unpublished and young (age 21 and under) authors alike. The Prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English. Last month the award was presented to Abir Mukherjee for A Necessary Evil, the second in his Sam Wyndham Series, following A Rising Man.

A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee

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.