I listened to City of Destruction by Vaseem Khan in October, the next instalment of the Malabar House series, which I love (see my blogs on Midnight at Malabar House, Dying Day and The Lost Man of Bombay and Death of a Lesser God) and hugely enjoyed it as usual and have preordered the audiobook of the next in the series, which comes out in January.

This one sees Persis Waadia, India’s first female detective, forced to kill again, to prevent a defence Minister being shot at a rally. Unfortunately Archie Blackfinch, her friend, colleague and lover, gets in the way and ends up in a coma for the novel, leaving Persis to make her own way without him to turn up and rescue her when needed.

Persis’ investigation is, as usual, thwarted by higher powers, not keen for her to investigate too thoroughly, given the presence of British intelligence in the case. As usual she pays no heed and carries on regardless, putting herself in harm’s way whilst chasing down some counterfitted bank notes. Also as usual there are fascinating connections to World War Two that she tries to get to the bottom of.

Meanwhile, Archie’s wife turns up from England, forcing Persis to confront her own feelings for Archie, and I was willing Archie to wake up and make it clear where his heart really lies. It was all delicious as usual and I can’t wait for the next listen.