Mr Marco and Ms Deb, solving crimes in Kolkata

We don’t normally think of foreign secretaries as authors of detective fiction.

- Karan Thapar

But the day may not be far when Krishnan Srinivasan will be better known as the creator of Michael Marco rather than the profound analyst of foreign affairs that was his first career. His eighth Marco novel has just been published. I've spent the last week reading it.

Michael Marco is not dissimilar to the great detectives of fiction like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, or Perry Mason. He's a most unusual but rather appealing character. It’s his eccentricities and foibles that draw you to him. They certainly have in my case.

So, let me introduce you to Mr Marco. Born in Italian Somaliland, he studied law before serving briefly as his country's ambassador somewhere in southern Africa. Unjustly dismissed from service, he did a stint with the United Nations before moving to India to pursue academic research.