Seven guests. One killer. Who is it?

Hyderabad, India; 1895. Seven people are invited by the Premier Minister to the opulent Falaknuma Palace to witness the sale of a rare diamond. They don't know one other, but each is hoping to secure something important.

When their host fails to appear, Chief Inspector Soobramania – known as Soob – is asked to step in, and safeguard the near-priceless gem.

Meanwhile, a visitor from Scotland Yard brings Inspector Wilberforce – Soob’s counterpart in the British Residency Police force – news of a deadly revolutionary collaborator: none other than Soob himself. Wilberforce is forced to question everything he thinks he knows about the man as they head to the palace to arrest him.

But then a ferocious monsoon descends. The roads are washed out and a lightning strike sets a man-eating panther loose in the grounds. Everyone is trapped in the hilltop palace. When the jewel goes missing and a guest is murdered, only one thing is certain: both the killer and the diamond are still there...

With Soob suspected of treason to the Crown and the British police officers blinkered by fear and prejudice, will anybody be able to solve the crime before there is another victim?

An Christie-esque historical crime novel set in Victoria India from a rising star of the crime genre.