Necropolis

Razia: a creature of the night and a political player a well-dressed clubber and a lover of poetry. Hushed voices say she may be hundreds of years old almost as old as her home: Delhi the city of tombs at once majestic and in disarray.

Razia is muse and antagonist to DCP Sajan Dayal whose centuries-old roots lie in bureaucratic service. Assisting Dayal are Kapoor a legend in the Delhi Police and an idealistic young cop named Smita Dhingra who - unlike Kapoor - is from the elite Indian Police Service. As the novel progresses the officers' pursuit of a serial collector of fingers quickly spirals into encounters with would-be vampires and werewolves rampant sexual violence the political pressures that attend every aspect of life in a capital city - and at every turn Razia.

A first novel of unusual beauty Necropolis weaves poetry brothels ministers and migrants into a heady twisted and darkly entertaining tale peeling back the layers from a city that is simultaneously in thrall to its past hostage to its present and bitterly divided as to its future.