The Burning Ghats - Rilegato

Born in England, Paul Mann emigrated to Australia, where he became one of that country's most successful journalists, as well as the author of several thrillers. In 1995, he moved to Maine, where he lives with his wife and three daughters. He is the author of two previous George Sansi novels, Season of the Monsoon and The Ganja Coast.
From the Paperback edition.

itics and honored as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Season of the Monsoon, Paul Mann's first mystery set in the turbulent world of contemporary India, created a literary sensation. A bold, seductive series, the New York Times Book Review declared when The Ganja Coast, the second George Sansi mystery, appeared two years later. Now in The Burning Ghats, Paul Mann's Anglo-Indian hero returns for a triumphant third appearance in a spellbinding, intricately structured novel of political intrigue, corporate greed, and fierce passions.
India cherishes the river city of Varanasi as one of her most sacred places, for it is here on the burning ghats that the bodies of the devout dead are cremated and their ashes scattered over the Ganges. Yet it is at this blessed shrine that one of the most terrible human and ecological disasters of modern times takes place. As thousands of mourners bathe in the holy waters, a lethal chemical spill swirls down the river, literally consuming the flesh of all w