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.