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1951: A political rally ends in tragedy.
1951: A political rally ends in tragedy.
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…
Bombay and Delhi
The cities are well evoked in the book and are major characters in themselves. The novel is set firmly in the turbulence of an independent India, with a Pakistan looking on. There is lots of information about India’s culture and history. You get a really good insight into post-partition India and a feel as if you have experienced it in ways you never thought about before.
The political division is clear and the assassination attempt of the new defence minister is what causes the start of everything. This defence minister is a man calling for war with India’s new post-Independence neighbours.
Destination/Location: Bombay, Delhi Author/guide: Vaseem Khan Departure: 1951
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