In an addictive 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 politics of an era engulfed in flame.
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**
Autorentext
Vaseem Khan is the author of several award-winning crime series including the Baby Ganesh Agency adventures, set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels, set in 1950s Bombay.
His first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published in 2015-2020, and has been translated into 17 languages. Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House series, won the Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger.
Vaseem has won numerous awards for his work, including, most recently, the Fingerprint Award for Historical Crime Novel of the Year for City of Destruction, the fifth in the Malabar House series. Vaseem is also the author of The Girl in Cell A, a psychological thriller set in small town America, and Quantum of Menace, the first in a series featuring Q from the world of James Bond.