The Last Kashmiri Rose, Barbara Cleverly, Dell, $6.99.
This is as exciting a first novel as Rennie Airth's sensational
River of Darkness - though set in the past, it has
an immediacy and robustness of plot that make it stand out in a crowded field of historical mysteries.
The Last Kashmiri
Rose is set in 1910 India, during the final years of the British Raj, and there's an uneasiness amongst the white
military families. It seems one of the "Memsahibs" (white women) has been murdered every March for several years running.
In fact the murders are so clever, it's not even certain they are murders, so just as he's about to leave India, Joe
Sandilands of Scotland Yard is called practically off the boat home by no less a person than the Governor himself on the
insistence of his niece. His niece being a passionate, determined and intelligent person, the Governor has paid attention
to what she's been saying, especially as she could be one of the murdered memsahibs herself. Joe finds himself plunged into
life on the British base - he's even given a horse, servants, and an honorary club membership - and some of it chafes. He's
not used to being treated like a rajah, nor is he comfortable with the deference of Nauroung, the local man assigned to him
by an apparently careless and insensitive British police chief. To me, this seemed slightly anachronistic, but on the whole
it's not a serious deterrent to enjoying the rest of this wonderful book immensely.
Cleverly is not only adept at painting a wonderful picture of hot, exotic, beautiful India, but she's good at both
plot and characterization, excellent qualities in a mystery writer. While this develops into a more or less standard serial
killer story, the story surrounding this plot device is solid, and so is the background she's given it - she's even gone to
the trouble of a memorable prologue set ten years before the murders - and pay attention to it, it's full of clues. She also
provides a romantic interest for Joe, and it's a deliciously tormented and forbidden one, that stays just enough to the side
not to turn this novel into a romance, rather than a mystery. Unlike the aforementioned Rennie Airth, Cleverly has a new
novel coming out in October, so she won't be the one hit wonder that Airth is turning out to be. This is a terrific first
book, and when Joe finally gets on the boat home at the end of the book, you as a reader are dying to go along.
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