The Dying Day

The second brilliant novel in the highly acclaimed Malabar House series featuring Persis Wadia, India's first female police detective. Book one, Midnight at Malabar House, won the CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger 2021.

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'The Da Vinci Code meets post-Independence India. I'd be surprised if I read a better book this year' M. W. CRAVEN

'This is a crime novel for everyone; for those who love traditional mysteries there are clues, codes and ciphers, but it also had a harder edge and a post-war darkness. Brilliant' ANN CLEEVES

A priceless manuscript. A missing scholar. A trail of riddles.
For over a century, one of the world's great treasures, a six-hundred-year-old copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy, has been safely housed at Bombay's Asiatic Society. But when it vanishes, together with the man charged with its care, British scholar and war hero, John Healy, the case lands on Inspector Persis Wadia's desk.

Uncovering a series of complex riddles written in verse, Persis - together with English forensic scientist Archie Blackfinch - is soon on the trail. But then they discover the first body.

As the death toll mounts it becomes evident that someone else is also pursuing this priceless artefact and will stop at nothing to possess it . . .

Harking back to an era of darkness, this second thriller in the Malabar House series pits Persis, once again, against her peers, a changing India, and an evil of limitless intent.

Gripping, immersive, and full of Vaseem Khan's trademark wit, this is historical fiction at its finest.

'A delicious treat of a historical crime novel' OBSERVER

'Thoroughly enjoyable' DAILY MAIL

*** Book one in this series, Midnight at Malabar House, won the CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger and is an international ebook bestseller. ***

'A wonderful, pacy, literary mystery with a brilliant female protagonist. Vaseem writes books that are good for the soul' STEVE CAVANAGH

'A hugely entertaining, devilishly clever and immersive murder mystery. Inspector Persis Wadia is a brilliant creation and The Dying Day is a triumph. This is my favourite new crime series, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Treat yourself!' ANTONIA HODGSON

'In The Dying Day, Vaseem Khan paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of a Bombay in 1950 still reeling from the aftermath of Partition and suffering the legacy of Empire. Every single element of this complex and compelling story slots together perfectly in the most brilliant and gripping of riddles ... A masterclass in historical crime fiction' CHRIS LLOYD