The Poisoner of Bengal: The 1930s Murder That Shocked the World
The Poisoner of Bengal: The 1930s Murder That Shocked the World
Dan Morrison
- Language: English
- Print Length: 280 Pages
- ISBN-10: 9789353455682
- ISBN-13: 978-9353455682
A crowded train platform. A painful jolt to the arm. A mysterious fever. And a fortune in the balance. Welcome to a Calcutta murder so diabolical in planning and so cold in execution that it made headlines from London to Sydney to New York.
Amarendra Chandra Pandey, 22, was the scion of a prominent zamindari family, a model son, and heir to half the Pakur Raj estate. Benoyendra Chandra Pandey, 32, was his rebellious, hard-partying half-brother – and heir to the other half. Their dispute became the germ for a crime that, with its elements of science, sex, and cinema, sent shockwaves across the British Raj.
Working his way through archives and libraries on three continents, Dan Morrison has dug deep into trial records, police files, witness testimonies, and newspaper clippings to investigate what he calls ‘the oldest of crimes, fratricide, executed with utterly modern tools’. He expertly plots every twist and turn of this repelling yet riveting story – right up to the killer’s cinematic last stand.
A crowded train platform. A painful jolt to the arm. A mysterious fever. And a fortune in the balance. Welcome to a Calcutta murder so diabolical in planning and so cold in execution that it made headlines from London to Sydney to New York.
Amarendra Chandra Pandey, 22, was the scion of a prominent zamindari family, a model son, and heir to half the Pakur Raj estate. Benoyendra Chandra Pandey, 32, was his rebellious, hard-partying half-brother – and heir to the other half. Their dispute became the germ for a crime that, with its elements of science, sex, and cinema, sent shockwaves across the British Raj.
Working his way through archives and libraries on three continents, Dan Morrison has dug deep into trial records, police files, witness testimonies, and newspaper clippings to investigate what he calls ‘the oldest of crimes, fratricide, executed with utterly modern tools’. He expertly plots every twist and turn of this repelling yet riveting story – right up to the killer’s cinematic last stand.
Author Bios:
Dan Morrison is a one-time tabloid crime reporter whose global writings on science, culture, and conflict have appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic, Artforum, and the Guardian. His journalism from the US, South Asia, and Africa has been recognized by the New York Press Club, the Association of British Science Writers, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the South Asian Journalists Association.
The Poisoner of Bengal is Morrison’s second book. His first, The Black Nile, was published by Viking Penguin in 2010. It was praised by the Daily Beast as ‘a masterful narrative of investigative reportage, travel writing, and contemporary history,’ while the Washington Post described it as ‘packed with narrow scrapes, humour and brazen feats of sheer adventure’.
Morrison lives with his wife and children in Brooklyn, where he researches cholera, plague, and the history of medicine. He works as deputy world editor at USA Today.
Dan Morrison is a one-time tabloid crime reporter whose global writings on science, culture, and conflict have appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic, Artforum, and the Guardian. His journalism from the US, South Asia, and Africa has been recognized by the New York Press Club, the Association of British Science Writers, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and the South Asian Journalists Association.
The Poisoner of Bengal is Morrison’s second book. His first, The Black Nile, was published by Viking Penguin in 2010. It was praised by the Daily Beast as ‘a masterful narrative of investigative reportage, travel writing, and contemporary history,’ while the Washington Post described it as ‘packed with narrow scrapes, humour and brazen feats of sheer adventure’.
Morrison lives with his wife and children in Brooklyn, where he researches cholera, plague, and the history of medicine. He works as deputy world editor at USA Today.
