'Abir Mukherjee is doing something uniquely different in the crime genre. His evocation of 1920s India under British occupation is breathtaking' Peter May, Sunday Times bestseller, on The Shadows of Men

Calcutta, 1923.

When a Hindu theologian is found murdered in his home, the city is on the brink of all-out religious war. Can officers of the Imperial Police Force, Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee track down those responsible in time to stop a bloodbath?

Set at a time of heightened political tension, beginning in atmospheric Calcutta and taking the detectives all the way to bustling Bombay, the latest instalment in this 'unmissable' (The Times) series presents Wyndham and Banerjee with an unprecedented challenge. Will this be the case that finally drives them apart?

'An engaging, evocative thriller that captures the heat of Indian nights and heady days of a bygone era, without being sentimental or simplistic' Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal