by Anne Perry
First published 2012
India, 1857. The British garrison at Cawnpore still reels from recent massacres. When a guard dies and an Indian prisoner flees, leading to more British deaths, the garrison demands blood. They arrest John Tallis, a medical orderly who cannot account for his whereabouts during the crimes. No witnesses saw him commit murder. No evidence links him to the deaths. But someone must pay. Lieutenant Victor Narraway receives orders to defend Tallis. His superiors want a quick trial and a swift execution. They expect Narraway to go through the motions, nothing more. But a soldier's widow and her children stir something in the young lieutenant. He believes in justice, even when justice proves inconvenient. Narraway begins investigating the real crimes. He searches for witnesses his superiors ignored. He questions the garrison's rush to judgment. In a land where British and Indian blood has soaked the earth, where fear and revenge cloud every decision, Narraway stands alone between an innocent man and the gallows.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, underdog
Setting: Cawnpore, India
Period: 1857
208 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: death, violence