A Berth to Bombay

Charlotte Holmes, a brilliant polymath, and her companion Dr Watan, an Indian doctor, continue their adventures as they deal with a supernatural event and her pregnancy. Charlotte decides to undertake her confinement at Redoubt, her matrimonial home, but the pregnancy becomes dangerous for both mother and child when she is haunted by the ghost of her dead child. Her In-Laws are less than welcoming, and she suspects they are plotting, once again, against her, so she enlists the assistance of Dr Watan to investigate the haunting. The unresolved paternity of Charlotte's child, between a married spymaster, a treasonous husband and a dead Warlord, proves problematic. Branwell meanwhile acquires a guide, the dacoit Durga, who becomes infatuated with him, and resents his rapprochement with his bitter ex-fiancée Rebecca. Complications arise when the Widow Hansen, Rebecca's mother attempts to seduce Branwell and Watan is drawn into an affair with a Memsaab whilst dealing with an awkward junior doctor. Maldehyde compels Branwell to apprehend the traitor Charles de Beque and he undertakes the quest with the aid of his guide Durga. Their perilous search leads them to a Chinese brothel, the murderous Wu Tu clan and a showdown with Charles de Beque over a gorge. Matters come to ahead when her husband and lover fight to be recognised as the father and they try to resolve the fallout from the Christmas Coup. A haunting defies rational explanation as Charlotte struggles with a difficult pregnancy whilst her brother pursues her treacherous husband.