The Kolkata Gambit

Description

In the City of Joy, love is the most dangerous variable.
Deepmalyo Mukherjee is a prisoner in a golden cage. An economist by training and the reluctant heir to a criminal empire, he views the world through the cold, detached lens of Game Theory. His life is a series of calculated moves—a loveless political marriage, a ruthless father, and a “Nash Equilibrium” of comfortable misery.
Hirakdyuti “Hia” Ganguli is an outlier. A brilliant, fiercely independent detective with the Kolkata Police, she relies on instinct and grit. When her investigation into the Mukherjee syndicate leads her into a trap during the chaotic festive nights of Durga Puja, she finds herself captive in Deep’s stronghold.
Tasked with breaking her, Deep instead finds himself in a “Prisoner’s Dilemma” of his own making. As political machinations and family betrayals tighten the noose around them, the line between captor and hostage blurs. Deep must decide whether to continue playing by his father’s brutal rules or to defect—risking everything for a woman who represents his destruction.
From the elite drawing rooms of Ballygunge to the shadowy safehouses of Kolaghat, The Kolkata Gambit is a high-stakes story of logic, redemption, and forbidden passion. In a game where every move is monitored, can two opposing players find a way to rewrite the rules before the endgame?

About The Author

Dr. Promita Mukherjee believes that love, much like economics, is a high-stakes game of strategy, signaling, and uncertain payoffs. An Assistant Professor at New Alipore College with a Ph.D. in Economics, she specializes in Game Theory and Experimental Economics. In her debut novel, she applies the rigid mathematics of decision-making to the chaotic variables of the human heart.
Her academic research on social dynamics and development has been published globally, from Cambridge University Press to Sage, providing the intellectual framework for her thriller’s twisting plot. When she isn’t modeling human behavior or teaching, Promita is a Gold Medal-winning vocalist and a lifelong disciple of Rabindra Sangeet legend Padmashree Dr. Rezwana Choudhary Bannya—proving that while math explains the world, music is what makes it worth saving.