William Avery is a typical low-level ensign-- drinking hard, gambling nightly, getting deep in debt, dying of boredom while waiting to see military action. He is sent on a mission with a strange man called Jeremiah Blake for reasons he can't fathom. They are supposed to find a missing man, a legendary poet who immortalized India in his verse and prose. Avery's low rank and inexperience hardly qualify him for such an important mission.But Blake is a veteran of secret missions and hard combat. He has also gone native, speaks several native languages and is clearly hostile to the Company. Avery, a loyal Company man, is uncomfortable with Blake, whom he's supposed to both assist and spy on.Their searches take them along roads traveled by ash-smeared fakirs and haunted by bandits, into impoverished villages and colorful bazaars, through rain-soaked jungle terrain and into the court of an Indian Prince. The politics of the Indian court are as perilous as the politics in the headquarters of the senior Company officers who puts them up. This man is in charge of eradicating the murderous cult of Thuggee in India.There is still controversy today over historical accounts of the Thuggee. This fascinating element in Indian history plays a surprising part in the plot of The Strangler Vine. The book is well researched and makes good use of historical characters.I have a weakness for thrilling fights scenes. The skirmishes with brigands and other enemies in this novel are particularly exciting, involving pistols, muskets, knives and scimitars. Blake moves like lightening in a fight, and Avery is a dead shot. Besides the terrific fight scenes, there's also a tense tiger hunt. Even the treatment of combat wounds is interesting. Blake prefers native cures to British methods of doctoring.I loved the colorful characters in this book -- and the feeling of being swept up in a great adventure.