Vikas Swarup is a member of the Indian Foreign Service. Originally published as Q&A, Slumdog Millionaire was an international bestseller. It has been translated into thirty-seven languages so far and was made into an award-wining Radio Four dramatization in 2006. His new novel, Six Suspects, has also been optioned for film. It is currently available as a Doubleday hardback and is due to be published as a Black Swan paperback in February 2009. Find out more about the author by visiting his website: www.vikasswarup.net

THERE'S A CASTE SYSTEM –— EVEN IN MURDER

Vicky Rai, the son of a high-profile Minister, has been shot dead by one of the guests at his own party. They are a glitzy bunch, but among them the police find six strange, displaced characters with a gun in their possession, each of them steaming with a secret motive.

India's wiliest investigative journalist, Arun Advani, makes it his mission to nail the murderer. In doing so, the amazing, tender and touching, techni-colour lives of six eccentric characters unravel before our eyes. But can we trust Advani? Or does he have another agenda in mind....

A dazzling mystery, a rivetting whodunnit, a kaleidoscopic portrait of modern India.