First published 2018
Captain Sam Wyndham stumbles through the opium dens of Calcutta in 1921, trying to forget the Great War. His addiction must stay hidden from his police superiors at all costs. When Wyndham gets called to examine a murder victim, the ritualistic wounds look familiar. Too familiar. The night before, in his drug-fueled wandering, he discovered another body bearing identical injuries. A serial killer stalks the city, but Wyndham faces an impossible choice. Revealing what he knows about the first murder means admitting he was in an opium den, which would destroy his career. Working alongside his sharp Indian sergeant, Surrender-not Banerjee, Wyndham must connect the two killings without exposing his secret. The investigation becomes a race against time as the killer prepares to strike again. Wyndham battles his personal demons while pursuing a murderer, knowing that one wrong move could cost him everything he has left.
Genres: historical-fiction, addiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: addiction, enemies-to-lovers, race-against-time
Setting: Calcutta
Period: 1921
352 pages · Hardcover · Harvill Secker
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use