Jim Stringer

Baghdad, 1917: Captain Jim Stringer has been dispatched to investigate what looks like a case of treason. He arrives to find his cover blown - his contact dead. The Baghdad heat alone threatens the lives of the British soldiers who occupy the city. But the recently ejected Turks are still a danger - and the local Arabs are none too friendly, either. Aside from his investigation, Jim is working on the railways around the city. His boss, Lieutenant-Colonel Shepherd, presides over the dining society called The Baghdad Railway Club. Jim's search for the truth brings him up against murderous violence as enemies wait around every corner.

North East India, 1923. On the Night Mail to Jamalpur, a man is shot dead in a first class compartment. Detective Inspector Jim Stringer was sleeping in the next compartment along. Was he the intended target?Jim should have known that his secondment to the East Indian Railway would not be the working holiday he had hoped for. Aside from the Jamalpur shooting, someone is placing venomous snakes in the first class compartments of the railway.