Mostly Murders

Book 1 in the Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries series.

Bombay 1892. Captain Jim Agnihotri, a big Sherlock Holmes fan, has just begun working as a journalist after recovering from injuries sustained in a battle. At Bombay University, two young women from the prominent Parsee Framji family die from falling from the top of the clock tower. The police insist that it is a case of double suicide, but the husband of one of the women refuses to believe so, and ends up hiring Jim to investigate.

Though Jim is inspired by Sherlock Holmes, he is a far more emotional character than his idol, and when Lady Diana Framji insists on joining his investigation, Jim finds it increasingly difficult to resist her intelligence and charm. But Jim is an orphan with mixed heritage, the son of an Indian mother and an unknown English father, and as such no match for the influential and wealthy Persee family.

Fighting his growing attraction to Lady Diana, Jim throws himself wholeheartedly into his investigation, which sees him travelling through India in search of witnesses, suspects and clues.

Forbidden love, battles and uprisings, castes and hierarchies, colonialism, military secrets, betrayals and conspiracies are all present in this historical mystery, examining not only the Framji women’s death, but also the whole political and historical scene in India and Jim Agnihotri’s own complicated background and heritage.

Mystery – Historical fiction – Romance