Inevitable Evil

The second novel in the detective series about Captain Wyndham and Sergeant Indestructible, investigating crimes in Calcutta at the beginning of the 20th century. India, 1920. Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Banerjee, nicknamed Indestructible, are to investigate the murder of the maharaja's son. Sam Wyndham pays an official visit to the kingdom of Sambalpur, home to diamond mines and the beautiful Palace of the Sun. When the elder son and heir of the maharaja is murdered, Wyndham realizes that the tiny kingdom is torn apart by conflicts. The murdered prince Adir was unpopular among religious groups, while his brother - now first in line for the throne - seems to be a frivolous dandy incapable of anything. In trying to unravel the mystery of the prince's death, Wyndham and Sergeant Indestructible find themselves in a real web that ensnares the maharaja's possessions. The maharaja's wives, his concubines, the eunuchs guarding them, ministers, British officials - somewhere among them hides the murderer, and the detectives must find him before he turns his hunt on them.