Blood Caste

Blood Caste (publication date July 24, 2025) by Shylashri Shankar is an absorbing mystery set in 1895, and imagines what could happen if Jack the Ripper hadn’t been stopped in London but starts another killing spree in Hyderabad, India.

Most fascinating was the interplay of all of the different royals and officials–both Indian and British–present in different parts of the City, and the multiplicity of religions–Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, Christian–with the caste system being the water the residents are swimming in. Luckily the author included a list of characters and a map at the beginning!

Centering on two detectives–Acting Inspector Soobramania (Soob to his friends), an outcaste Brahmin who studied in England but has returned home after solving the mystery of Jack the Ripper for Scotland Yard; and Inspector Bill Wilberforce, chief inspector of the British Residency, who is not thrilled with being in Hyderabad after his former partner was found to be Jack the Ripper–the mystery begins with a body count of three women murdered on the same evening.

Wilberforce cannot stand Soob, and Soob barely tolerates Wilberforce, but they both want to solve these murders. Could it have been the wealthy Baigs? Or the Resident’s visitors, which include an Earl and the Russian Tsar’s brother? There are also other British who live nearby and something just isn’t right. Assisted by Dr. Shiraz Daruwalla, the Parsi widow of Soob’s best friend Cyrus, who can ask questions of the women in harems since men aren’t allowed, she really wants to figure this out since her cousin Niloufer was one of the first women murdered.

With multiple twists and turns and a sizable body count, I enjoyed it, and thought the ending was well-done. I look forward to further installments in a series, and a possible romance between the widower Soob and widow Shiraz. I will consider it weight-neutral, generally because there is no mention of the main characters’ shapes or sizes, but there is a single description of a guard as fat in a negative way.