Okay, now I’m spoiled. Not that I wasn’t before, mind you. I have enjoyed James Patterson’s Private series from the jump, with Patterson giving readers a visit to each of the offices of Private --- the world’s largest security and investigative agency --- in locales exotic and far away. Each and all of the excursions have been entertaining at worst and riveting at best. However, PRIVATE INDIA: CITY ON FIRE may be the best of the lot to date. Patterson, with the able assistance of Ashwin Sanghi, takes us to Private’s Mumbai office and uses one of the world’s most unusual and exotic cities as a backdrop as the hunt for a serial murderer takes place.

"The book’s beating heart is a murder mystery that’s puzzling and intriguing, but the star is Mumbai itself, a city of social, cultural and financial contrasts.... Whether you regard yourself as a Private completist or a first-time visitor to this far- and wide-ranging series, CITY ON FIRE rewards."

Private’s Mumbai office is, shall we say, not especially high-profile --- those old enough to remember “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” television series will delight in the mildly similar, though ultimately different, setup --- but it gets the job done. So does the somewhat prickly, troubled head of Private’s Indian branch office. Santosh Wagh is the sole survivor of a terrible tragedy and fights a battle with alcoholic self-medication on a daily basis. One might wonder why Private CEO Jack Morgan would put a potential train wreck in the making like Wagh in charge of a multi-million-dollar operation. We soon learn the answer: Wagh is really, really good at what he does, which is connecting seemingly unrelated dots of evidence to form a clear picture.

Those abilities are tested to their utmost in CITY ON FIRE, where someone is performing a series of ritualistic murders in what seems to be a random manner. All of the victims are women, strangled, and decorated in bizarre and ritualistic fashion. An evidentiary link between two of the victims gives Wagh and his team a slender thread to follow, but it seems to lead nowhere. Wagh is dogged and becomes more so when additional murders occur, and Morgan himself falls under suspicion. The latter raises the stakes considerably, but the investigation is hampered when it appears that someone within Private’s own Mumbai office may be leaking information to the press. Additionally, Private does not realize that Mumbai has been targeted for a terrorist strike...and the target is going to hit extremely close to home. By the time CITY ON FIRE concludes, there is some question as to whether or not Wagh and the branch itself will survive.

The book’s beating heart is a murder mystery that’s puzzling and intriguing, but the star is Mumbai itself, a city of social, cultural and financial contrasts. The grisly climax is played out in a location that is so unusual you will remember it forever, though you won’t want to be eating takeout from Rally’s when you do so. And while you may or may not figure out who the murderer is before book’s end, it is doubtful you will unravel all of their secrets without the assistance of Patterson and Sanghi, who ultimately reveal all with an adroit flare.

Whether you regard yourself as a Private completist or a first-time visitor to this far- and wide-ranging series, CITY ON FIRE rewards.