The Lascar Mysteries

London, 1856. A captain lies murdered. The bloody knife is found in the galley. And the cook is the only man aboard with nothing to hide.

Arun Varma was meant to be a scholar. An educated clerk from Chittagong, he wrote poetry and dreamed of a life among books, until his father's sudden death made him the sole provider for his grieving family. Kabir Khan, an overseer for the East India Company, offered a way out. It was a lie. Arun found himself bonded to the HMS Bengal, one of the lascars, the Indian sailors who powered Britain's maritime empire, wrenched from their homes and worked to exhaustion in the engine rooms, galleys and rigging of a world they had no say in.

Then Captain Sir Reginald Hathaway is found dead in his cabin, and the murder weapon is Arun's own kitchen knife. The crew turns on him. The only man who will listen is Inspector Edwin Blackthorn of Scotland Yard, a detective so feared that hardened criminals fall silent at his name. Blackthorn takes the lascar into his custody and out into the fog of Victorian London.

Together they move through gaslit docks, smoky taverns, East End black markets and the corridors of the East India Company itself. Arun's fluency in English and his ease among the ship's crew make him the key to the case, and Blackthorn's badge opens doors Arun never could. But London is no kinder than the ship. Landlords turn him away, children mock his accent, and a city proud of its civility sees only a servant. Kindness comes from unexpected places, and so does danger. Someone is watching them, and the bodies are beginning to pile up.

As a conspiracy of greed and betrayal unfolds, Arun must decide who he can trust. He must also decide whether a man whose fate was written for him can write his own.

Why readers will love it:

• A fresh view of Victorian crime, told from the point of view of a lascar
• An unlikely partnership between a formidable inspector and a gifted, quietly brave cook
• Rich atmosphere: fog-bound docks, crowded taverns and the creak of a ship at night
• A mystery with real stakes, and a confrontation you won't see coming
• A rarely told piece of maritime history, brought vividly to life

The Lascar Mysteries: A Fate Unwritten is the first book in a historical mystery series. Fans of Victorian crime, atmospheric historical fiction and stories that give a voice to those the empire overlooked will find much to enjoy.

Some fates are written for us. This one is not.