Quietly dignified Inspector Ghote, 'one of the great creations of detective fiction' (Alexander McCall Smith), finds himself trapped on a train with a fellow passenger who may - or may not - be the legendary confidence trickster he is travelling to collect, in this classic mystery - with a brand-new introduction by bestselling author Vaseem Khan. When Inspector Ganesh Ghote boards the train to Calcutta, he's looking forward to spending forty hours detached from his responsibilities, but nevertheless still doing his job. He is on his way to collect legendary swindler A. K. Bhattacharya, who's defrauded wealthy art-lovers for years, and bring him back to Bombay to stand trial. But his peace and quiet is immediately disturbed by a chatty fellow traveller, who, Ghote soon realises, talks relentlessly but never gives anything personal away. Who is this man, who never takes off his sunglasses, and whose hair appears freshly dyed? The good inspector's heart stops when he sees the initials on his companion's case: A.K.B. A. K. Bhattacharaya, the master trickster, is in prison in Calcutta, awaiting transfer under Ghote's custody to Bombay. It would be the wildest fantasy to think he should be sitting on the train with Ghote instead. Wouldn't it?

Here, Ghote is sent to Calcutta to escort a master criminal back to Bombay. He takes the train, hoping to make the journey into a mini-vacation. Fate conspires, however, and an odd assortment of travelers turns the trip into something unexpected.

It is Inspector Ghote's bad luck to be landed with the case of the perfect murder at the start of his career with the Bombay Police, for in this most baffling of crimes there is the cunning and important tycoon Lala Varde to contend with. And as if this were not enough, he finds himself having to investigate the mysterious theft of one rupee from the desk of yet another Very Important Person, the Minister of Police Affairs and the Arts. "If people would only behave in a simple, reasonable, logical way," sighs the Inspector as he struggles through the quagmires of incompetence and corruption to solve these curious crimes.

A handful of Western visitors comes to the opulent Summer Palace of Bhopore to meet the outrageous Maharajah and his eccentric entourage. But before long they also meet sudden death. An imperturbable District Superintendent of Police is called in; but who will he find guilty of the murder of the Maharajah?

A prequel to the popular series finds newly promoted Inspector Ghote examining a suicide case and becoming increasingly suspicious that the victim's husband is not telling the truth, a situation that proves increasingly compelling in the face of deceptive appearances.

The Edgar Award-winning editor collects sixty of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories—from Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy, to Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain. • “Anyone who cares about the best mystery writing of the past century and beyond would be lucky to receive this thick volume during the holidays." —The Washington Post This collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant. Included are puzzles by Mary Higgins Clark, Isaac Asimov, and Ngaio Marsh; uncanny tales in the tradition of A Christmas Carol by Peter Lovesey and Max Allan Collins; O. Henry-like stories by Stanley Ellin and Joseph Shearing, stories by pulp icons John D. MacDonald and Damon Runyon; comic gems from Donald E. Westlake and John Mortimer; and many, many more. Almost any kind of mystery you’re in the mood for--suspense, pure detection, humor, cozy, private eye, or police procedural—can be found in these pages. FEATURING: - Unscrupulous Santas - Crimes of Christmases Past and Present - Festive felonies - Deadly puddings - Misdemeanors under the mistletoe - Christmas cases for classic characters including Sherlock Holmes, Brother Cadfael, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Ellery Queen, Rumpole of the Bailey, Inspector Morse, Inspector Ghote, A.J. Raffles, and Nero Wolfe.