Occasional missteps in consistency and clunky dialogue aside, scholar Shylashri Shankar's fiction debut joins a growing list of mystery novels set in pre-Independence India – the most remarkable aspect being the setting of Hyderabad, one of the largest princely states of the subcontinent. Though the city is today very much an afterthought for outsiders looking in - who tend to see Bombay, Bangalore, Delhi, and Calcutta as the urban mainstays - it was an important centre of power in the region back in the day (the integration with Independent India was a bloody affair, to say the least).

This setting, which sets Shankar's novel apart from the work of Harini Nagendra, Abir Mukherjee, and Sujata Massey, brings a blend of palace intrigue to a bloody mystery starring a London-returned Madras cop, a London-reject British police officer, and a Parsi doctor who is one of two women to practice the profession in late 19th century Hyderabad.

It's solidly written stuff with a bunch of very unique personalities at its centre, though it tends to get a little dull to read the dialogue. The action, however, is unrelenting, and bodies keep piling up, giving the reader much to delight in. Shankar looks critically at some of the cultural practices of the time (a few which sadly continue to prevail) and weaves them into the plot deftly, giving the narrative a lived-in feel.