The Great Game: A Thriller

An outsider in London investigates a series of brutal murders targeting English aristocrats in a timely and provocative historical novel brimming with intrigue, wit, and rage.

London, 1905: Law student and military veteran Balvinder dev Singh has found an extralegal way to fund his studies. As friend and accomplice to the infamous gentleman thief AJ Raffles, he rubs shoulders with the upper crust--and steals their valuables. That is, until their next mark, an imperialist general, is grotesquely murdered in the library of his Mayfair mansion. Bal and Raffles find themselves implicated in a series of killings that soon attracts the attention of Scotland Yard--and the aging Sherlock Holmes himself.

As Bal works to clear his name, he must hide his checkered past from a new acquaintance, the beautiful Irish violinist Maud Adler. Her fiery views lead Bal to question his own place in the world. But when he comes face-to-face with a plot to strike at the very heart of the British government, he must decide how much he's willing to risk for his adopted city.

(c) 2026 by Arvind Ethan David, all rights reserved.

Arvind has written seven graphic novels, including most recently his adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Trouble Is My Business (Pantheon, May 2025) and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Darkness Visible with Mike Carey. Arvind has also written multiple hit audio originals, including the science fiction anthology series Earworms, The Crimes of Dorian Gray, and the nonfiction audiobook Douglas Adams: The Ends of the Earth.

In theatre, Arvind's plays include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, both based on the novels by Douglas Adams, and he received an Olivier nomination for his family musical The Boy With Wings, based on Lenny Henry's children's book. He also contributed additional material for David Baddiel and Erran Baron Cohen's musical The Infidel and was a lead producer of the Grammy and Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill.

Arvind has written and produced extensively in television, including Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency for Netflix, Anansi Boys for Amazon, and the Asian Academy Award winner The Garden of Evening Mists for HBO.

The Great Game is his debut prose novel.