I listened to Death of a Lesser God by Vaseem Khan in August, as a huge fan of the Malabar House series (see my blogs on Midnight at Malabar House, Dying Day and The Lost Man of Bombay). It is set in post Independence India and stars Persis Waadia as India’s first female detective.

This time love interest Archie Blackfinch is largely off the scene (except popping up handily to rescue her as usual) and Persis has her protege Seema to worry about. Born in the slums and until recently cleaning railway station toilets, Seema is now learning the ropes for a possible career in the police and accompanying Persis to Calcutta on the trail of a murderer. Soon they find themselves in the Sundarbans (which I have enjoyed reading about in the books by Amitav Ghosh) and have crocodiles and tigers to contend with, on top of dangerous humans.

All of this is in aid of discovering whether Englishman James Whitby really is guilty of murder or has been scapegoated as a figurehead for Indian getting justice over the British. The clock is ticking as the countdown to his execution moves relentlessly forward.

As ever this was a deeply enjoyable journey into historical detective fiction at its absolute best.