A Necessary Evil, Mukherjee - B

                             This is the second book in a series set in India in 1920 and first seen here in May of last year. This time, Capt. Wyndham and Sgt. Banerjee, his Cambridge-educated assistant, witness the assassination of the heir to a throne in southern India. The kingdom at the center of this story is thousands of years old and its diamond mines were mentioned by Ptolmey, one of Alexander the Great's generals. Wyndham and Banerjee pursue the case, while the author enlightens us on the intricacies of the Raj after the Great War, and the attempt by the Governor-General to bring the dozens of principalities and kingdoms into a Chamber of Princes supporting the UK. The Raj held together for another 27 years.