India, 1937. Intrepid reporter Sir Percival Harris is hunting tigers with his friend, Professor Ernest Drabble. Harris soon bags a man-eater – but later finds himself caught up in a hunt of a different kind…

Harris is due to interview the Maharaja of Bikaner, a friend to the Raj, for his London newspaper – and he and Drabble soon find themselves accompanied by a local journalist, Miss Heinz. But is the lady all she seems? And the Maharaja himself is proving elusive…

Meanwhile, the movement for Indian independence is becoming stronger, and Drabble and Harris witness some of the conflict first-hand. But even more drama comes on arrival at Bikaner when the friends find themselves confined to their quarters… and embroiled in an assassination plot!

Just who is the enemy in the Maharaja’s palace? What is the connection to a mysterious man Drabble meets in Delhi? And what secret plans do the British colonial officers have up their sleeves?

Praise for Alec Marsh’s Drabble and Harris thrillers…

‘A rollicking good read’ IAN RANKIN

‘An immensely readable treat!’ ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH

‘Marsh chomps the period bit between his teeth and relates his yarn with winning gusto’ NEW STATESMAN

‘Tremendous stuff! With the arrival of Alec Marsh’s first Drabble and Harris thriller, John Buchan must be stirring uneasily in his grave’ STANLEY JOHNSON