Angol
Six days after a locksmith is murdered, his wife finds a key stitched into the lining of a radio bag.
It belongs to Nalini Sethi, a woman who lives alone and has already entrusted a spare to a household-assistance service. Her jewellery is untouched. A packet of family letters is gone.
Ira Malhotra and Kabir Rao of Human Trace begin with a dead man's notebook and a demand for his customers' records. Following the extra key draws them into Delhi homes where help arrives carrying groceries, collecting repairs and opening doors for people who cannot always open them themselves.
But an instruction can travel further than its owner intended. An ordinary collection can become leverage. And the people asking for answers have reasons to withhold parts of their own stories.
As the missing letters pass from hand to hand, Ira and Kabir must separate a worker's mistake from a deliberate act-and find what connects the quiet taking of private possessions to a man's violent death.
The Second Key is Book Seven in The Human Trace Series, a Delhi crime mystery about trust, dependence and the price of getting something back.
