In this gripping collection of stories, Lalli—sixty, silver-haired and tough as nails—solves some of the strangest cases of her career. A face keeps reappearing in unlikely places, until a crime of jealousy committed long ago is revealed. Letters from a dead woman hint at a murder that may or may not have happened. A hate-fuelled book-burning claims a life in horrific fashion; and a serial killer turns up in the studio of a famous fashion designer. A suicide in a Mumbai suburb turns out to be something far more sinister; and a harmless desk ornament becomes a clue to a crime most artistically executed. Finally, for connoisseurs of crime fiction, the curtains come down with a story about lost love and a subtle, surprising revenge.