Smokewater

Translated from the Urdu by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi.

Prominent industrialist Sir Fayyaz Ahmad disappears en route to his vacation home, and returns several days later in a strange delusional state. His granddaughter, the young and beautiful Shakila, approaches Colonel Faridi and Captain Hameed for help. The investigation leads the two detectives through the corrupt, twisted world of the super-rich--their stately mansions, white yachts, and platinum mines--and smack into the middle of a deadly game being played by the notorious American criminal Doctor Dread.

Welcome to Ibne Safi's "Jasusi Dunya," an intricately demented world of larger-than-life villains, mad genius detectives, and beautiful femmes fatales. With a huge cult following among readers in both India and Pakistan, this series spans 125 novels published between 1952 and 1979, of which "Smokewater" is #61. They remain some of the bestselling books in Urdu even today.