From the award-winning author of MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE comes a brilliant new cozy murder 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...

''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

**Discover the charming and cozy Baby Ganesh crime series by Vaseem Khan, available now**