The Last Taxi Ride

April 21, 2014
In chapter one of Ahmad’s solid sequel to 2013’s The Caretaker, New York City cabbie Ranjit Singh is thrilled to realize that his fare is Shabana Shah, a famous Bollywood actress, who tips him generously when he delivers her to the Dakota, where she’s staying in a friend’s apartment. By coincidence, the Dakota doorman is Mohan Kumar, a junior colleague from Ranjit’s army days in India. That evening, the two old friends meet in a Dakota storage room, where they drink Scotch and reminisce. The next morning, the police show up at Ranjit’s cab company and claim that fingerprint evidence places him at the scene of Shabana’s murder in her apartment the night before. And Mohan, the one who can vouch for Ranjit, has disappeared. Ranjit, ever the gallant Sikh, makes a winning hero in a mystery revealing of how Indians do business—legitimate or otherwise—in New York and around the world. Agent: Stephanie Abou, Foundry Media.

June 1, 2014
This sequel to The Caretaker (2013) is another solid success for Ahmad, who conjures up a fascinating cast of characters from mobsters to cab drivers, illuminating South Asian expat culture and exploring the Indian Mafia's long reach. Expat Indian Army Captain Ranjit Singh is building a new life in New York as a cab driver and part-time security guard. When Ranjit snags Bollywood actress Shabana Shah as a fare after cruising luxury shopping lanes, he's shocked to recognize her building's bellman as his Indian Army buddy Mohan. Ranjit meets Mohan that night, and they catch up over gourmet leftovers in Shah's empty apartment. It's a great evening, but the next morning homicide cops show up demanding to know why Ranjit's fingerprints are on the murder weapon used to brutally beat the actress. Ranjit's going down for murder unless he gets answers from the suddenly vanished Mohan, but his search gets tangled in a violent Indian Mafia power struggle, and he quickly becomes a target. A strong, rapid-paced thriller with exotic interest; addictive reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)