The Dying Day

'Historical fiction at its finest' Mail on Sunday
'Brilliant!' Ann Cleeves
'Persis Wadia, denizen of India's own Slough House - Malabar House in Bombay - is a brilliant creation and this is a richly satisfying book at many levels' Alis Hawkins
'Khan writes with charm and wit, and an eye for detail that transports the reader entirely' Chris Whitaker
'Persis is a brilliant creation and this is historical fiction at its finest' Daily Mirror

A priceless manuscript. A missing scholar. A trail of riddles.

Bombay, 1950. 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, Persis must once again fight back 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 to savour.

*** The Lost Man of Bombay and Death of a Lesser God are also available to read! ***