Last Victim of the Monsoon Express (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation, #4.5)

by Vaseem Khan

For he knew that modern India was a country of such vast inequalities that the notion of justice itself had become malleable, often at the mercy of those who had wealth, power and influence.

cataclysmic sundering of Partition,

convince the Indian and Pakistani governments to move towards détente.

A sense of romance and revived grandeur, an echo of something once thought

It was a sad but singular fact of the world that where people often failed a convenient symbol might prevail.

he had left socialising to those of his colleagues bent on ingratiating their way up the ladder.

‘I’ve always felt that India was what one makes of it,’ he said. ‘There is no such thing as a typical Indian. The differences between north, south, east and west are so profound that we might rightly be called a collection of countries.’

It was easy to blame the shepherd, but the truth was that sometimes all the security in the world couldn’t stop a committed criminal.

remained impassive in the face of shock, indignation, insults, and various threats to have him hauled over the coals for his impertinence.

elected chief minister in Jammu and Kashmir, where he was lauded for quelling the local insurgency

typecast early on in her career as the sleazy mistress, the volatile extracurricular lover.

realising that denial was futile.

air of dignity and old-school gravitas

It is a hatred fanned by the flames of political expediency, a hatred that is baseless. Ordinary citizens bear the brunt of that enmity, a price paid in blood.’

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

barking up the wrong tree.’

It was a case of two steps forward and three steps back. And then one step sideways.

whilst towing a nasty divorce in his wake.’

This was the sort of anomaly that set his teeth on edge.

Indian rosewood, also known as Bombay Blackwood.

Chopra felt the thrill of synapses firing, connections flickering into view.

To others, he was merely a product of his environment, a man of his

‘There’s no legislating for the human condition,