The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation, #2)

by Vaseem Khan

gently down upon his shoulder, Inspector Ashwin Chopra (Retd) found himself

undoubtedly, at this supreme moment in his life. But with pride came a boundless sense of humility.

the state of Maharashtra, India, could be thus honoured seemed al...

deal more when he had selflessly dived into Vihar Lake on the outskirts of Mumbai to rescue a stricken

overcome by a sudden sense of pathos,

life from which there could now only be a perilous and unwelcome descent. He stumbled to his feet from the knighting stool and cast around at the circle of gathered luminaries in search of Poppy. He saw that his wife, radiant in a powder-pink silk sari, was engaged

Chopra could not recall. Standing in the lee of the old dowager was h...

that Chopra’s mysterious Uncle Bansi had sent to him seven months

for that matter, Rangwalla? And did they really allow elephants

back to the supreme monarch. For the first time, he

widow Poornima Devi, right down to the black eye-patch and expression

mother had reserved for him ev...

Queen’s mouth opened into a yawning black hole . . . Dee-dah dee-dah

swam back to consciousness with the insistent ringing of the alarm threatening

his head dazedly from a carpeted floor and looked around in thorough

bobbed before him: a shattered glass

else there was a flurry of movement as a horde of men in black military

the red-carpeted chamber, down two flights of marbled stairs and out

Someone pushed a glass of water into

his nose, jerking

Chopra blinked rapidly. He was groggy, his memory slow to return. He was sitting

Fort. He recalled, with a sudden rush, that he was there to visit the Grand Exhibition of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. This thought instantly brought with it another: Poppy!

standing on the grass just yards

spotted him approaching. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked, concern in her eyes. ‘Yes,’ he replied,

said. ‘But they won’t tell me what’s going on.’ Chopra looked around.

blockade the entrances and exits to the museum. Other guards were

rounding up

On the lawn beside Chopra, his fellow visitors from the room in which he

of sunlight spearing a darkened room, Chopra understood what was

the recumbent bodies. He believed he had a very good idea of what was going

Jewels.

fellow visitors were marched to the museum’s swanky

terms, that no one was permitted to leave. Someone would be along

lit room to be interrogated by a man named Deodar Jha, who introduced himself as the commander

special anti-terrorist squad set up amidst a blaze of publicity following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

their Go...

knew that the Force One Unit had been employed to safeguard the Crown Jewels during the exhibition

aggressive moustache. He had an arrogant demeanour and the manner of a bully. Chopra, veteran of

questions precisely and accurately. He knew that the faster Jha got his

sweating...

would surely cost him his career. There was

‘One more time: tell me precisely what happened.’ What had happened? Chopra tried to concentrate

whirr of memory taking him back, back to the beginning . . .

glanced at his wife, Archana – known to all as Poppy – from behind the

loved his wife dearly, but at this precise instant he was struggling to recall

Museum. Chopra had known that traffic at this hour would be horrendous,

exhibition had arrived in Mumbai two weeks earlier, a full ten days before

her historic visit to...

set foot on Indian soil. The newspapers had been full of little else.

closet Anglophile he was secretly delighted that the Queen had chosen to visit