Author Description

When the valet of Major William Russell, the English Resident of the small, princely state of Rajpore, knocks on Russell's bedroom door the morning after the 1909 New Year's Ball and receives no response, he and the Resident's elderly secretary eventually task the English Commandant of Cavalry with breaking it down. The Resident is dead in his bed. His Highness Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia Mansur-i-Zaman Maharaja Sikander Singh, Light of Heaven, Sword of Justice, Shield of the Faithful, sole ruler of Rajpore, cannot resist an enigma, relishing a riddle and the rush of resolving it. Will the Maharaja work through a surplus of suspects and motives and figure out who killed Russell? Arjun Gaind's clever, fascinating debut introduces an elegant new detective in the tradition of Lord Peter Wimsey, while painting a scathing portrait of the British Raj.