Description

In a thrilling new murder mystery in the Malabar House series, Persis Wadia and Archie Blackfinch travel to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where they collide head-on with the prejudices and bloody politics of an era engulfed in flame.

Can a white man receive justice in post-colonial India?

Bombay, 1950. James Whitby, sentenced to death for the murder of prominent lawyer and former Quit India activist Fareed Mazumdar, is less than two weeks from a date with the gallows. In a last-ditch attempt to save his son, Whitby's father, arch-colonialist, Charles Whitby, forces a new investigation into the killing.

The investigation leads Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where, with the help of Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she uncovers a possible link to a second case, the brutal murder of an African-American G.I. during the Calcutta Killings of 1946.

How are the cases connected? And if Whitby didn't murder Mazumdar, then who did? And why?

'Beautifully written and a fascinating insight into the turbulence of post independence India' Peter May
'Blends a grippingly modern plot with gritty and unvarnished history' William Shaw
'Historical fiction at its finest' Mail on Sunday
'Brilliant!' Ann Cleeves
'Persis Wadia, denizen of India's own Slough House - Malabar House in Bombay' Alis Hawkins
'Hugely entertaining, devilishly clever' Antonia Hodgson
'Khan writes with charm and wit, and an eye for detail that transports the reader entirely' Chris Whitaker
'Persis is a brilliant creation and this is historical fiction at its finest' Daily Mirror

*SHORTLISTED FOR HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR at the FINGERPRINT AWARDS *
**Discover the charming and cozy Baby Ganesh crime series by Vaseem Khan, available now**