British-Indian author Vaseem Khan’s wonderful ‘Malabar House’ historical mystery series is centred on Persis Wadia, India’s first female police detective. City of Destruction is the intriguing fifth outing where Persis is caught up in politics and spycraft.
Despite preventing the assassination of her country’s controversial defence minister at a political rally in Bombay, by killing ‘the lone gunman’, Persis is soon sidelined from the deeper investigation into possible co-conspirators. Was it an act of war by new post-Raj neighbours Pakistan, treachery from within Indian politics, or something personal? While Britain’s MI6 security service also gets involved, Persis is given a less high-profile case: the burned body of an unidentified foreigner discovered on one of Bombay’s beaches.
Khan, the first non-white Chair of the famed Crime Writers’ Association, brilliantly soaks readers in his early 1950s setting, as India’s nascent democracy is finding its feet after throwing off the yoke of British colonialism. City of Destruction is a page-turner that’s full of political and personal intrigues, as Persis tries to solve two puzzling cases while dealing with her colleague and friend-or-more, Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch fighting for his life in hospital, and her country seemingly on the brink of war.
A very, very good read in a very good series.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series 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 2015-2020, and is translated into 17 languages. The second in the series won the Shamus Award in the US. In 2018, he was awarded the Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Award for Literature.
In 2021, Midnight at Malabar House won the Crime Writers Association Historical Dagger, the world’s premier award for historical crime fiction. When he isn’t writing, he works at the Department of Security and Crime Science at University College London. Vaseem was born in England, but spent a decade working in India. Vaseem also co-hosts the popular crime fiction podcast, The Red Hot Chilli Writers.
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