‘City of Destruction’ by Vaseem Khan

Published by Hodder & Stoughton,
28 November 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-399-70765-7 (HB)

It is 1951 in Bombay, a city still recovering from the trauma and sectarian violence that followed independence and the partition of India in1947. Most Indians are happy that the British have been expelled, but not all are agreed about India’s relationship with their new neighbour, Pakistan: some want it reunited with India, some want it to remain separate, others want to wage war on it. As usual, politicians’ public statements do not necessarily coincide with their private aims and actions.

Inspector Persis Wadia, India’s first female detective, works out of Malabar House - the smallest and least auspicious police station in Bombay peopled by out-of-favour officers. When Persis shoots a young gunman intent on assassinating India’s new defence minister, Rafi Azad, male officers, Inspectors Oberoi and Fernandes, not Persis, are given the task of identifying the assassin’s partners in crime. Rosan Seth, Persis’ boss, sidetracks her into investigating a seemingly less important matter, the death of a white man found burned on some rocks in a posh area of Bombay. Who was he? Was he murdered or did he commit suicide?

Being highly intelligent and independently minded, Persis ignores her instructions and starts investing both the assassination attempt and the identity and reason for the death of the burnt man. A lead takes her to Delhi where she meets two MI6 officers, Barnes and Astor, who, theoretically at least, are supposed to be helping the new Indian Intelligence Service to find its feet.  Impervious to obvious dangers, Persis risks life and limb as she tracks suspects. She also gets under the skin of her Malabar House colleagues, her superiors and MI6 alike. Her single-minded pursuit of justice pays off when the two investigations eventually become linked.

Persis has a complicated private life. The apparently insurmountable barriers of race, creed and family contribute to a constant struggle over her feelings for Archie Blackfinch, an English criminologist in Bombay to help set up a local forensic lab. Sadly, Archie is shot early in the story and is in a coma.  Will he survive? And should he survive, any advance in their relationship is further complicated by the arrival of Archie’s wife from whom he is separated but not divorced.

City of Destruction is a delightful book, both entertaining and thought provoking. Vaseem Khan manages to weave the threads of politics, ancient and modern history and social commentary on the abject poverty and obscene riches in India, into a seamless whole. The story is populated by a wide variety of characters, the good - Persis and her family - the not so good, and the bad who are fighting to establish supremacy over various disreputable trades such as drug dealing, prostitution and money lending. Minor characters are often encapsulated in descriptions crafted to bring a smile to your face. Last, but not least, two complicated crimes are investigated. Although City of Destruction is the fifth book in the Malabar House series it can easily be read as a standalone. Having read it however, you might well want to seek out the previous four books in the series.

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Reviewer: Angela Crowther

Vaseem Khan was born in London in 1973. He studied finance at the London School of Economics. He first saw an elephant lumbering down the middle of the road in 1997 when he arrived in the city of Mumbai, India to work as a management consultant. This surreal sight inspired his Baby Ganesh Agency series of 'gritty cosy crime' novels. He returned to the UK in 2006 and has since worked at University College London for the Department of Security and Crime Science. Elephants are third on his list of passions, first and second being great literature and cricket, not always in that order. His first book The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was a Times Bestseller and an Amazon Best Debut. The second in the series Perplexing Theft of The Jewel in The Crown won the 2017 Shamus Award for Best Original Private Investigator Paperback. The latest book is in his new series Malabar House is  Death of A Lesser God published 10 August 2023.

http://vaseemkhan.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VaseemKhanUK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VaseemKhanOfficial/

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.