Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Death at the Durbar
    Death at the Durbar
    Death at the Durbar
    Ebook367 pages5 hours

    Death at the Durbar

    By Arjun Raj Gaind

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "Golden age fans will appreciate how Sikander works his way through an array of suspects. Once again, Gaind successfully blends detection with history." —Publishers Weekly STARRED review

    December, 1911. All of India is in a tizzy. A vast tent city has sprung up outside the old walled enclave of Mughal Delhi, where the British are hosting a grand Durbar to celebrate the coronation of the new King, George V. From across India, all the Maharajas and Nawabs have gathered at the Viceroy of India's command to pay homage and swear loyalty to the King Emperor, the first monarch of England to travel out to India personally.

    Maharaja Sikander Singh of Rajpore is growing increasingly bored, cooling his heels at the Majestic Hotel as he awaits George V's arrival. Just as his frustration is about to peak, a pair of British officers shoulders in. They insist that he accompany them to the British Encampment. Irked, but his curiosity piqued, Sikander agrees. To his surprise, they take him to the King Emperor's quarters where Sikander's old school friend, Malik Umar Hayat Khan, the Durbar herald, awaits. Malik Umar is serving Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy and the highest-ranked Englishman in the country. Lord Hardinge, overruling several subordinates, tells Sikander that his services as a sleuth are needed by King and country. Sworn to secrecy, Sikander is ushered into George V's personal chambers.

    And there he finds the cause for his extraordinary summons—an exquisite nautch-girl, hanged until dead. Employing techniques he has learned from studying Eugene Vidocq and Sherlock Holmes, Sikander examines the scene and demonstrates the girl was not a suicide, but murdered.

    Her death at the very heart of the encampment could ruin the enormously costly celebration and spark deep political repercussions in India and in England. Under this pressure, the Viceroy hands Sikander both the case to solve and a ticking clock—he must complete his investigation before George V arrives. And under the surveillance of one Captain Campbell of an elite British regiment.

    The list of suspects and motives is too large, the number of hours for the task too few. But he gave his word and so the Maharaja must put his skills to work. In the end, Sikander wishes he had not.

    The Maharaja Mysteries are perfect reading for fans of Tarquin Hall, Barbara Cleverly, and the late HRF Keating—and Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Coyle.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMar 6, 2018
    ISBN9781464209215
    Death at the Durbar
    Author

    Arjun Raj Gaind

    Arjun Raj Gaind is the author of several graphic novels, including Empire of Blood, Reincarnation Man, The Mighty Yeti, Project: Kalki, Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya, and A Brief History of Death.He is also the author of A Very Pukka Murder, the first installment in the Maharaja Mysteries, which chronicle the adventures of Maharaja Sikander Singh, set against the picturesque backdrop of Princely India during the heyday of the British Raj.

    Read more from Arjun Raj Gaind

    Related to Death at the Durbar

    Related ebooks

    Suspense For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Inglish Like Us

      Dec 24, 2022

      Inglish Like Us
      4 min read

    • Article

      Body Language

      Aug 14, 2019

      Body Language
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Countryside For All

      Jun 29, 2023

      IT WAS ONE OF THOSE dinner parties that didn’t feel like it was going particularly well. Someone had just broken up with their girlfriend for want of someone else; my little puppy wouldn’t stop howling in the hall, and one of our guests was strung ou

      3 min read

    • Article

      Middle Of Somewhere

      Dec 3, 2021

      When I decided to try to write books, I did what the cliché urges us not to do: I quit my day job. Leaving architecture was temporary, I told myself; I just needed a year to see. For money, I would hustle and freelance; for food and shelter, I would

      2 min read

    • Article

      My Invitation To Camelot

      Sep 20, 2023

      My Invitation To Camelot
      3 min read

    • Article

      No Cause For Complacency

      Mar 10, 2023

      No Cause For Complacency
      3 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      Holiday For One

      Mar 24, 2023

      Holiday For One
      4 min read

    • Article

      Watership Down

      Nov 6, 2017

      Watership Down
      6 min read

    • Article

      Your Page

      Apr 27, 2022

      Jetting my way back through the clouds to coastal Victoria from Queensland following my father’s funeral, I opened the March edition of Country Style and took a deep breath. After a week of family tension and grief, ‘The Art Issue’, always a personal

      5 min read

    • Article

      Girls in the Band: My Summer of Rock Memoirs

      Jul 18, 2017

      The aim of each of these women, perhaps of every artist, is a longing to be understood, to make some seemingly unknowable part of the self known. The post Girls in the Band: My Summer of Rock Memoirs appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Wartime Memories

      Nov 11, 2022

      Due to my fondness for storytelling and recording everything that ever happened to me, my family and the world, I doubt I shall ever be that golden oldie who sits with a wide-eyed younger generation at my feet telling tales of yore whilst they gasp i

      3 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Jan 1, 2020

      In class, I stared because of the blood going blue.The chalk that coated our fingerly teeth.The way we lapped each other (on the shorewhere the flowering). I gave away our location. Smacked my lips in the coat closet.Sucked at her teeth. We, on all e

      4 min read

    • Article

      Burton And Taylor Go To Oxford

      Jan 12, 2022

      In 1965, when I was in my final year at Oxford, reading English, news came through that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were coming to town. They were going to appear in an Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) production of Dr Faustus by Chr

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Man Behind Edna

      May 17, 2023

      The Man Behind Edna
      7 min read

    • Article

      Mark

      Jul 15, 2020

      Mark
      4 min read

    • Article

      “Really?”

      Jun 2, 2022

      “Really?”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Robin Ince Is On The Road

      Mar 6, 2023

      Did you have a favourite Little Chef ? I don’t know if there are any left now. I think they have become coffee outlets or adult superstores for the covert admirer of hardcore pornography and vibrating eggs. When my friend Lyndsey and I used to travel

      3 min read

    • Article

      Feedback

      Oct 21, 2021

      Feedback
      5 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems by Rohan Chhetri

      Sep 8, 2020

      All summer the half voice lurked behind me & I played deaf for days for to live To not write about it to use my body Part the river’s flesh to operate Machinery is human too to love & for once stay awake through it all. Now it comes like the deer sle

      3 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jan 1, 2021

      Light delimits the darkness as snowgives shape to the silence of winter trees.Above a rooftop, the shadow of illness hoversindistinguishable from the wraithsof common chimney smoke.Strip skin from flesh, flesh from boneto behold the comical, adumbrat

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Death at the Durbar

    4/5

    10 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      King George V, Emperor of India, is about to arrive in Delhi for his very public coronation. The who's who of Indian society, Maharajahs and princes, and members of the British Raj, have arrived in their thousands. The Maharajahs and princes have set up pavilions and courts, all designed to show how rich and influential they are.And in the middle of it all, in the King's own pavilion, an Indian dancer is found murdered. The King is due to arrive within 48 hours and Sikander Singh, Maharajah of Rajpore, who would much rather be a detective than a Maharajah, is asked by the Viceroy, to solve the mystery.Blending fictitious with actual characters, the author presents us with a panoply of suspects, and authentic historical detail on a grand scale. I was impressed above all by the amount of research that must have gone into the writing of this book. The overall effect is sumptuous beyond measure.If historical India is your "thing", then you will enjoy this.
    • 4/5
      Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of the book to review.This is a historical murder mystery set during the time of the Raj when the British were in control of India. The King of England, George V, who is also Emperor of India, is visiting India. He is the first British king to do so. Huge celebrations have been scheduled to mark the visit and all the Indian maharajas have come to Delhi to pay homage to the king. The Durbar is a lavish tent city which has been constructed for them. Shortly before the king's arrival the body of a native dancer is found hanging near the king's quarters in the Durbar. Sakinder Singh, the Maharaja of Raypole, is well known among the British ruling class and his peer maharajas for being a curious busybody. He is therefore assigned the task of solving the murder mystery, but has only a couple of days before the arrival of the king to do it. His trusty manservant is there to assist him, but he is saddled with a British army officer to supposedly keep an eye on him.There is no shortage of suspects. It seems the dancer had many visitors during the days before her death -- someone actually maintained a list of them. As Sakinder goes about interviewing those on the list, even more visitors are discovered and questioned. Several of these visitors are unpleasant or just plain nasty people but Sakinder thinks none of them is the killer. Finally, a chance discovery provides the missing clue to Sakinder.Sakinder is the star of the show -- he's a unique mixture of tradition and modern man. Similarly, there's an ambivalence about the British rule. The one nationalist character is a power-hungry weasel, while the British characters (except for a gang of young nobles) are cast in a generally favourable light. The story is set in 1911, when British power was at its height and the old order was yet to be swept aside by World War 1. It's a snapshot of the times.Among the British there is an arrogance towards the Indians. The book portrays the class distinctions prevalent in both Indian and British society. Among the maharajas there is distinction between a thirteen gun maharaja and a seventeen gun one; that's based on the number of guns in the salute they are given at events. There's similar distinctions among the various regiments of the British army: the Coldstream Guards outrank the Black Watch.This is the second book in what I hope becomes a series. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      This mystery was sent to me by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you.(I had to look up Dunbar. According to Wikipedia, “ A Dunbar was an Indian imperial style mass assembly organised by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India.)Sikander Singh, the Maharajah of Rajpore, is back in his second mystery set during the British Raj. The year is 1911 and a Dunbar to celebrate the coronation of George V is being held. The king will be in attendance in his position as Emperor of India.Unfortunately, two days before his arrival, the body of a murdered nautch dancer is discovered hanging from a rafter in the royal quarters, Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy himself, asks Sikander to investigate the crime and find a solution within 36 hours. He will be aided, or maybe dogged, by a captain of the Coldstream Guards Arthur Campbell. Sikander agrees to help because his main joy in life is solving crimes. He also has a more personal reason. He knew the beautiful young dancer because when her mother was murdered twelve year ago Sikander was unsuccessful in identifying the murderer.The only lead is a list of visitors to the dancer’s quarters the day of her murder. As Sikander interviews each one, he seems to draw a blank. There are plenty of likely candidates; sadistic maharajahs, jealous lovers, spoiled scions of British nobility, individuals trying to save her soul. Yet all have alibis and time is running out. Plus Sikander himself seems to be a target because more than one person has warned him off the investigation.Even more interesting than the mystery are the descriptions of the pageantry and excesses of the Dunbar. I particularly enjoyed the history of the great Indian families. The author gives the lineage of each suspect and how his family came to hold the power in their state. It may be filler, but it is filler of the best kind, entertaining and informative. Indian society, as in the first book, is juxtapositioned with British society and again the point is made that even a boorish English sergeant considers himself superior to an Oxbridge-educated maharajah merely because he is white. There is class prejudice on all levels.I look forward to the next book with Maharajah Singh and I hope there are many more.

    Book preview

    Death at the Durbar - Arjun Raj Gaind

    Q, fbook_preview_excerpt.htmlu}ɒ#ɕx ̑SR)YkFũf  җ@!O<\"sKFU3s")$#w[ޢO߂//yW_/_}s.V_q՗?G~cjipvO!TSj|]N UO2wUsNMxǾ;8 1csjwշ0i;vWz7t9Ѕ1)=G> 7M1.>T50/ivzO/r藩j<;h)^CN T~ě~~윦*!9x ff|}'alRc{bԺ<0Nsc|GpUմ }%sR-XK_74ǰҬ{Y;ԧmq.Gܡ?c_¾[{lc08_|C\qGCS_i祩g<78\4D7!5}wpa)6XYy@~ߏE=~q\G%؍xuzh<08ď D Srvu8wV/_Z4kJl~cE16&4qMzCN]:Cf|`xQK"d5aܻ+xJOvԖ0GS(#/ami# $c݄7֑)4ItaX" S:I%HͺBKO2f|G؋dFIf=V(2 q q]0$|l˭h^Eu: uX$xqNS.:NW9ΤpආJ4KiPh=qg!3;d?C;3 5$!O:=T&OR &\OHnIY7nQ_ޯjܛ0Q}n|68> =I{ÁZ=vkusEKs,y0vc`]/,n%|z[q-Ma[.djs#ti@uF2|%zv>p{8). jwU4BOx%P:v㟩*HŃY/R=]B]SE?'ܥP=C~wecK8: rױ/2rlͱM,)B̂~> Tq?a *g]d+}st-cד)2&z̫/rb((d2+EH-n% rI+?Hc?$ ?T$I VX>.4U#*C- di~s Sb,uH>i]ISY.QC%6f[c6ktMSg_q%)H2ydVFN'F)PnVqy2JQ_]ϐvO) i'v#ƑZ%nΐ( Vܛj.ƆkuCrўP.L B ~`:]RݯaR:B9q*~`t򰴡l~DX!O\t:BQXd 1V?7`ƴXL[YQ' Z"$pt H$2@R"SSW<\ / JfܹBI^8fcC0Pmm [Bƺv !ځ+G7@'|* ܦSh|V" m.ﺰLV%"k٤}@N{5vPdvBw2m$P' G즓=Ys0CH`&rO<}\qcsu@ѪJMV /n˸+\ɰtr| Vǃא *&$tcc0&T9Vak ~a * ,4qZ}e2"2(NY%$/I \`ٿ=J)_Q_Zn}A=]t/%5əuL)8Wg8Lgi3EV)OT| p_̏.]sh4ZmV|K2]7)Ur]'&c#LQW 5\RPϋi2 βКLZ4۹6/c8[=%N,@"N܉1uΈxOKHLI6`S2VGAu/mUN'?lw-F0,E@83z6oͰ4NFm ]:<8}5Ḇ 4̇-D1j9i[WzZfbo!o8 sOX5 jw\d.zwg60`u :} ŏpŌOO eH!~?: 5brO?ߐ*7f7bxHfl {E~qwgU]nu3DeɭSPRN\&[mČy^2fi^M0=e2VoN"r3{:k<~k u:,cvsI&ﯖ)Ҫo|!B=!=0pL; YR,C?iV 'Gq_E`? ٍsCkEYɑ+f/x'b&Ͳ<%jAhmˆ>Ml( ,Z lGmn-P<@cj\Č'3fgRe.+ܧ^YW|CaBDb k 톽GcFNqiios4^^ >z,kv? -y8l+ " ;shO4F\%Z" 3S/Di`RvxZP\wCWD k>%n Zoᑞbz/ 2Ri FR qŕl͌sɓ9M[F0i5OFӝִS71T;$M?]X%J6 }CZXP8KMCfQ\3=a(CUR:<p7|:3~ݱ tLIzR|~*89K>)ߠ=96;/[jwBn8yigR%rGs2Cz%̑JKZ2 $f/i M(-_Stck 5p*X(I|ǯFe˝%{ LR7JtbZ9A'M|ZW:.a *3 a0Hs{%Q*cJ+FRrP(bI}l%*N* 쉛.> ٺl`..YMV:? ?J!h<(zhc=HB;Q=ҘKL:Du  $hd4l3Pڐ R3zXNY4<zQާ1ۆU6kٳ@3^qgƦ!2d"N}%ڙ}j00d/U9_by ?D`0#6 s6NfeIOk4_P5!8 :&,7lic)hFcXmeeީ{0%=4De4DjmF(D]Nma7T%&c_|}V-Pc)0 ^28栺 [KZ{ȃ驦Ky5BheBIa}az<!_!+ix !܏Kp<w}ne8}O2LXdSSsj'X\I4thx0xx|Va\Hd?: ?‘j0q _%O"A_SӎG[|)3Ud#Kތ#tJ;o1bu٨|릸ey)FB|ņSIb5J8eg;HU p'8S1,dz^Pxq811hf~M]=[cX_*z&gWzG@:<^k^Ҽ*={UA4Sc`(N΀'aP=67y]f=F|=0m|RQyŒ6dI!]C`na\NU{ioAs K လB8_#e`.𻯷L%@vVH1n^SX ޶%姡bդnQP-<yXeS7̋Us),}]F,V.*jg$OHY8VE;|ԑқtwyjQ'@:,ʞd mDtn}dn9b E!b#Y>i1M]{6ȻAd{(y߆mdYvw'fZw"ZZ|Dso1%[ɖN-ԱY8h{]nDYRy c3%꒎f\ W>XtS%KF(WeTͷyy=}nqFk؛CO@qERFةUV t”Cxpcpè}8xA|'nbr"ədZsq! lTY*Oyc2tP`٪-,0sݍ@xVʭXU0k>Z (CrRUe{G3XqY3Ş啼'vާГkc,vPW&16٘U8.5)12yu\َ&Hfd~w#V 1@TGd)6;>>k#*Ӂ^mؑE K2.[ hS,T(m[Oole`EVLpyuP*Ms73mkcJu*\9ž{;I}V82fj9\H_azm:~+MNyl4![r\&[ɽB 8 d;*bԡ\^;u"%EQY9Z.Ky u֟u.ٚEeCry=[@?%!˞fRr W[u5/em+UO@2zdmAXgi+)bmZ/Q+ļ| *G( !.Rĉ7nVk!Mt c()҇-o.gx'C8HV*h&.,_PAz|:>>M#Rtä2G(eҰؤ:ϹIl V_Q~/ )R>8OuMp&h!1{5u)]. /a MSIqW_!%T0R;I|TB?)׋#wUPz @k(_JrGy 4BC94q?ZeTxp6W&k[s؈ ,+S$N0*H^)[ i "Np [Vq&c+ '6"[M_*k˸sR@+kM ,yfqrKCZ%Ȝ{v`{*)2|M{d8P/ VcoG3ӓ\)G<#M`|nqVNfi*Wq7*{S o3jr_ 7ҩ%> ֹ`zg0.;̥G mRP){k/!Z‘-%SDz bf߂q4NDj(ouIN8ViyiZ$#2|r{=Ŕja>m<ŪYiYWi{\N(,ocVot7`ɠ{6*=-=]y\N,siz1G`8^}ǣsⓕ>b4W-#NHJBZ46N6ٜ\6;-ևˁ'`2[6(+٦qi͔ $CXFF(`MAjhB @Ӳd)KJg)ZzI?)l90o`o[cx%tm[Fq%$B+1a_LY(h[dPU W29X43+נ4/Mͺ:ҭ 0ynȏ3 oalR\+:鶵ă2g>MZ/J-AZ7!i(\LamOF_ v7P!k@^rl*O,?mh~ sy2ȦF]q! }.`V-T>E :BdQuey# N+oxVGKMƧc=V*NX/oaCxÎ#A91`.3*W殩f9&9k#`*ǬWhZۃҔ†M.oN I  66j(&m5''ffMa:nuD*6 źkWk{A38'yZ,yJˆݳָ8 >¢oMWV`v뼠4T$յ[W͒1A'Aj?ţX0j)>L~AXf2 U?>TwkAT,0UsYϕ4{EX ΫCt9 i`,x6 ?ehF9e?j1p%)ji9:+.&UR̯K s2e\ _w?/,a3WV,V+tbv7%(P=1Z +} BҚ8UnUE9R͂9Fqƒ3]/۶ֺCQJ4ixxjNNлݐ+m0c鵰ZGR)bywpf]D>hǜL)Yn&y*AI8.s"Bnda'(5V۱iAo ה|ڶѢ@7hAR`*3n/>>?KL{6hR:[4IEN7}# Ȏ5JėoεxSL0h-_r-D=DA_4H#n #a 薵EJof4a}]1l$,مUhX9ٴ̕mKYDA.Oeӈ`}eBkZF|ܟt'9-SXr-F5Z.SuT9XI,@E٣u>}ZԜEz1hQŦA-5eSM1I]j 4Aڝ2gP>cl^Pu^Ԃ@ToyQTpL@Y_pAE$J+K`5$h Sf|x~w0ei V8E<4Z(6.$O`_s#g1\_Q5^f >O%SeAMjGpyK7e؆Dm~z7(-":SXPX.]8Y3v́aC՘ ߾&eD}j/p%4gm0~-j9pVu=5QNSseg1sI<5"/` ]kZ]yPoAxmUPqUyk,Q Y^+Ly$')W,m$,!τף6]v$;OCLSުwCtRys61=/,1j,3,ʩv>f}dO5n.=rP YFlRqWflfJs3ms`$? a("QL8qzl4h]Dc_܋5!Pyk^}\joU]m稫ĊUXqwWo3 D}j{X=jG.B&֗SD@i|3is'9gLrkeqqb^_/F{,Sg^]mb CgNؕI=2ٲx;ΟaR&bX26tZSWܛ 4%@ѦG|X)0q Y뗍p ^;r򼉟zDl7شm*2ڗD#T~pk9|cYX oLy&?Q7.v$5g=ߏ%#oz's3P Cskhx7wHaIE\,oͅƕ/dkXs>%G3g$ͽ96I}jJ񺺫&\v)[[&*2gܶZb3XFs$a.hD6xyOzh?pގ>Ƕ 8>C0[kyrw;$Elߙ#`4BMcyP[;^Tv4Fnz>ouwQpړW?Owf~`jx9?l< ; Kv`c䀣<~p͡|AShΩM\QmySs lqcZLBZ-VzZPxPO*4n1Dg5۲ۦ'YAM"gbSeض i)y]͵4cknֱ*WU(6kX{b7-Qc1r6c^b4T6/qZyϣBcuk&o2Jz2o"
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1