India, March 1 -- In 16th-century India, warrior Amar Singh, tracker Jingu, artist Qamaruz Zaman and fire-scarred scholar Ferdows travel through a land teeming with clans, tongues and deities, stealthily rigging the emperor's dominion over man, beast and demon. The unlikely quartet prove adept at engineering spectacles reflecting the Great Moghul's divine right to rule. They intercept a rogue elephant attacking a caravanserai, face a liger in a desert kingdom, and confront a demon in a remote mountain valley. The Great Moghul takes credit for each hunt, and this strategy of empire expansion seems to be working. But there are challenges. By the time the quartet reaches the harem city of Zikri to investigate a mysterious death, the differences between them have grown stark. Set in the Mughal era, the book skilfully blends elements of the detective tale, adventure story and speculative feminist history....