Necropolis (Hardback)  | Released: Sep. 2014

Razia is a creature of the night and a political player, a welldressedclubber and a lover of poetry. She may even behundreds of years old, almost as old as her home – Delhi– the city of tombs, at once majestic and in disarray, testamentto its numerous deaths and renewals. Hers is the tale of Delhiitself, of a city trying to bridge the gap between the old andthe new.She is muse and antagonist to DCP Sajan Dayal, whosecenturies-old roots lie in bureaucratic service in urban Delhi. Heis assisted by a heavyset middle-aged Punjabi named Kapoor– who is a legend in the Delhi Police for his connections andpragmatic approach to law enforcement – and an idealisticyoung officer named Smita Dhingra, who, unlike Kapoor, isfrom the elite Indian Police Service. Necropolis follows the three officers as they find theirpursuit of a serial collector of fingers spiralling into encounters with would-be vampiresand werewolves, rampant sexual violence, the political pressures that attend every aspectof life in a capital city and, at every turn, Razia.Necropolis weaves poetry, brothels, ministers and migrants into a heady, twisted anddarkly entertaining tale. It peels back the layers from a city that is simultaneously in thrallto its past, hostage to its present and bitterly divided as to its future. This is a nuancedstudy of the politics of origin and the dilemmas of ownership and class, an investigationinto the arrhythmic heart of Delhi. About the AuthorAvtar Singh is an author and editor. His previous novel, The Beauty of These Present Things, was published by Penguin India. He has worked as an editor with Man’s World, the Outlook Group, Time Out Delhi and The Indian Quarterly. He lives with his family in New Delhi.