''Vaseem Khan writes with charm and wit, and an eye for detail that transports the reader entirely. I couldn''t love this series more'' CHRIS WHITAKER

''Historical fiction at its finest'' MAIL ON SUNDAY

From the award-winning author of MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE and THE LOST MAN OF BOMBAY comes a brilliant new mystery featuring the inimitable Persis Wadia.

Bombay, 1951. A political rally ends in tragedy when India''s first female police detective, Persis Wadia, kills a lone gunman as he attempts to assassinate the divisive new defence minister, a man calling for war with India''s new post-Independence neighbours.

With the Malabar House team tasked to hunt down the assassin''s co-conspirators - aided by agents from Britain''s MI6 security service - Persis is quickly relegated to the sidelines. But then she is given a second case, the burned body of an unidentified white man found on a Bombay beach. As she pursues both investigations - with and without official sanction - she soon finds herself headed to the country''s capital, New Delhi, a city where ancient and modern India openly clash.

Meanwhile, Persis''s colleague, Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, lies in a hospital fighting for his life as all around him the country tears itself apart in the prelude to war...