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In this second of the series featuring female police officer Persis Wadia, the writer and his characters seem to have settled into their skins nicely. It's more assured than the first book with a lot less ranting about prejudice and a lot more getting on with the sleuthing.

A British academic has gone missing with a priceless copy of Dante's Divine Comedy. He's left a trail of cryptic breadcrumbs for Persis and Archie to follow in rather a classical style. Readers are unlikely to know enough about the cultural references to solve the mystery themselves, but the clues are still satisfying. Meanwhile, Persis is second string on a murder mystery for a beautiful young woman found dead on a railway line. Could the two crimes be connected? Let's see.

There's more action and less explaining which is a good thing. The odd thing is that when we finally work out what's going on, it's soon apparent that the setting in Bombay is a bit irrelevant to the crime and the motivations - which is rather a pity. For a protagonist who dislikes the old Empire ways and the influence of the British, the plot relies a lot on institutes and systems set up by them.

None of this distracts from the story. Chuck in a bit of a frisson between Persis and Archie and the return of the man who took her innocence and there's plenty to enjoy this time.