Barbara Cleverly

This was Cleverly's first novel and maybe that was the reason I determined who the perpetrator was (or who I wanted it to be) quite early. The reasoning was trickier but she pulled it off with the help of Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands. I love the era and setting of the British Raj and Cleverly did a great job of taking the reader to 1920s India.

I've read Cleverly's Laetitia Talbot mysteries, but this was my first Joe Sandilands and I intend to keep reading.

The fourth volume in the Joe Sandilands series finds the Scotland Yard detective nearing the end of his temporary assignment in India. Sir George Jardine encourages Sandilands to accept an invitation to accompany a British Captain to the princely state of Ranipur, whose maharaja is a good friend of the Captain's. The British government has enjoyed a good relationship with the maharaja, but the maharaja is terminally ill and has yet to appoint the heir to the throne. The maharaja's eldest son show more recently died in an unfortunate accident, and the British government is concerned that a power struggle may be underway. Although the British, and therefore Sandilands, have no jurisdiction in Ranipur, Sir George hopes that Sandilands will make discreet inquiries into the state of things in Ranipur and report his findings to Sir George. In addition to making this unofficial investigation, Sandilands is also expected to participate in an orchestrated hunt for the man-eating tiger that has been terrorizing the villages of Ranipur.

I enjoyed the setting and characters in this novel, but I found the mystery aspect unsatisfying. We learn the "how" of the several crimes in the story. There are suspects and motives aplenty, but seemingly no clues pointing to any particular individual. We're told several times in the book that Indian police are as advanced as Scotland Yard in their use of forensic techniques such as fingerprint analysis and ballistics. However, neither Sandilands nor the local security force make use of any of these techniques. Sandilands uses reason to identify the perpetrator of each crime, but there were too few clues that would allow the reader to solve the mystery before Sandilands makes his final summation. Since Sandilands has no authority to arrest anyone in Ranipur, the author had to resort to other means to see that the perpetrators receive their just reward. This just didn't work for me. show less

Fall of Angels - Barbara Cleverly
Audio performance by Seven Crossley
3 stars

This is the first book of a series set in post WW1, Cambridge, England. The upper class, Detective Inspector, John Redfyre has a front row seat at a university Christmas concert. He is prepared for social disturbance as the featured soloist is, most shockingly, a female trumpeter. Attempted murder, actual murder, the misogeny of established academe, and a great deal of female solidarity follows. There were a good show more number of red herrings in this story, so I kept turning pages to follow the clues. The author did fill space with a great deal of costume description while character development seemed a bit shallow. I enjoyed the strident feminist campainers, even though some of the campainers behaved irrationally. I couldn’t decide if Steven Crossley’s humorously sarcastic tone helped or hindered the story. But, he is easy on the ears. show less

I rather liked these. Historical murder mysteries set against the British Raj after WWI, with the detective relying primarily on his wits rather than forensics (which are in their early days in Europe and pretty non-existent in India).

Commander Joe Sandilands is on secondment in India; he is tapped by Sir George Jardine (who is a shadowy power behind the Viceroy) to investigate several crimes. Despite longing to return to London, Joe agrees to stay on (effectively he isn't given a choice). show more First, he clears up a series of killings of officers' wives of the Bengal Greys, secondly he solves a couple of assassinations at Simla, thirdly he deals with a tricky case of revenge on the North West Frontier, and lastly skulduggery in the palace of a princely state.

Recommended, but I'm not sure I'll bother continuing with the series as once back in Europe, it seems to become more humdrum. show less