Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was first introduced to us in 2002 in The Necropolis Railway. This is now his ninth adventure and as you can see, we are in India. So there is murder to contend with, and snakes, conflict between racial divides and the start of the struggle for independence … it is 1923. The author is particularly good at historic detail making this series of detective stories highly absorbing. We get more family background here but you do not need to have followed the series chronologically to fully appreciate them, just read them and love them.
North East India, 1923. On the broiling Night Mail from Calcutta to Jamalpur, a man is shot dead in a first class compartment. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was sleeping in the next compartment along. Was he the intended target? Jim should have known that his secondment to the East Indian Railway, with a roving brief to inspect security arrangements, would not be the working holiday he had hoped for. The country seethes with political and racial tension. Aside from the Jamalpur shooting, someone is placing venomous snakes - including giant king cobras - in the first class compartments of the railway. Jim also has worries on the home front: his daughter has formed a connection with a Maharajah's son, who may in turn have a connection to Jim's incredibly rude colleague, the bristling Major Fisher. Jim must do everything he can to keep his family safe from harm, as he unravels the intrigues that surround him...
