Death in the Andamans

Another fun and atmospheric mystery from M. M. Kaye! Death in the Andamans is a cozy-house mystery with an exotic twist: the self-contained, cozy house is the Andaman Islands, where the European segment of society is trapped together during a storm. When one of their number dies in the storm, it seems a simple case of drowning...except it isn't. Who stands to gain by the death of poor coconut farmer Ferrers Shilto? And who, among this very small group of people, could possibly have killed him?

Red herrings abound and though sufficient attention is given to the murderer, I didn't really see it coming (I usually don't though). The dialogue is sharp, witty, and sometimes downright funny. The romance element is a bit predictable but show more enjoyable all the same, and the proposal scene is pure comedic gold. It reminded me of Christie's Tommy and Tuppence banter and that's always a good thing. show less

I love Death in the Andamans and I hadn't read it for several years because my library discarded their copy. Luckily, it turns out not all libraries are so short-sighted.

Copper (Caroline Olivia Phoebe Elizabeth Randal, or some equally long mouthful) is spending Christmas with her friend Valerie on the Andaman Islands (in the Bay of Bengal, part of India), where Val's stepfather is the Chief Commissioner. They are returning from a picnic another of the islands when they are hit by a hurricane. Although they reach their destination safely, many of their companions are marooned on the wrong island, the island is completely cut off from contact with outside world, and a man is dead.
When circumstances force them to conclude someone in their show more midst is a murderer, Copper and friends "rashly decide to play detective" before the storm destroys all the clues...

Death in the Andamans shares many things with M.M. Kaye's other whodunits: an exotic setting which has changed dramatically in the years since the author visited; a suspenseful, tense mystery; a young attractive and intelligent heroine; romance and humour.
However, unlike many of Kaye's heroines who don't have anyone to confide in or know who to trust, Copper has friends to share her suspicions and fears with. Their team detective work, and their friendly teasing and interactions keep the story amusing. It isn't my favourite of her whodunits, but it is probably the most amusing (and the one I would most like to see as a film!)

The descriptions of the surroundings, from the Chief Commissioner's "disturbingly creepy" house, the islands themselves, to the hurricane and its impact, are vivid and wonderful. They build on the atmospheric tension and help contribute to the novel's gripping mystery.
Historically (although not published until 1960, it was first written in the late 30s) Death in the Andamans is also incredibly interesting. Part of this is because the 1930s world described is quite different from contemporary society, and part of it because the setting and the storm on Christmas eve really existed.

Just as Copper has friends to share the situation with, the story was - apparently - made up by friends. The author and her friend sat in the deserted Club on Boxing day, "staring glumly at the damp patches on the ballroom floor and the wilting decorations", and the author "remarked idly that the present situation would be a gift to a would-be murderer. No doctor on the island, no police, only a handful of [...] British troops, no telephone lines operating and no link with the main island, and [...] temperature and humidity so high that any corpse would have to be buried double-quick..." To which her friend responded, "You know, that's quite an idea! Who shall we kill?" show less

Caroline Ophelia Phoebe Elizabeth Randal, known to her friends as Copper, is staying with school chum Valerie on the tiny island of Ross in the Andaman Islands. The vast majority of the population is Burmese, but there is a small British community on the island as well, and Copper and Val naturally form part of this society. At first Copper views the island as a paradise, especially when compared to her rather dreary life in London; and the most upsetting aspect of her visit so far is her feelings for Nick Tarrent, a visiting naval officer who is friends with Valerie's fiancé. But everything changes one fateful day when a terrible storm leads to widespread destruction on the island, and one of the British plantation owners is found show more dead. His death is assumed to be accidental until another visiting officer, who happens to be a doctor, suspects foul play. Then the doctor himself is murdered, and it slowly dawns on Copper and the others that the murderer has to be one of them -- the storm has cut off all access from the outside world. Can Copper and her friends unmask the murderer before he or she kills again?

I've finally read the last of M.M. Kaye's "Death in…" books, and I'm sorry to have reached the end of them. They all essentially follow the same formula -- young woman visits exotic location, falls in love, and becomes involved with a murder -- but it's a formula that appeals to me, so I don't mind! This book did a wonderful job describing the setting, which is unsurprising, since Kaye actually lived in the Andamans for a while and even experienced a storm like the one in the book! The fact that Copper and her friends were completely cut off from the outside world produced the proper atmosphere of creepy suspense; I was reminded at times of Agatha Christie's [And Then There Were None]. I didn't particularly like the fact that there was a lot of head-hopping in the book, from Copper to Val to Nick to various other characters. I also thought the solution of the mystery came out of nowhere. While the plot does hang together, I wasn't terribly satisfied by the revelation of the murderer, as many other suspects could just as easily have committed the murders for the same reason. Overall, though, I enjoyed this book and am sad that I don't have any more M.M. Kaye mysteries to look forward to! show less

This is the final book I needed to read to complete M.M. Kaye's murder mysteries. What I like most about M.M. Kaye's books is the atmosphere and the suspense. She's really great at creating a room, or a moment, or a set of circumstances that make your heart race and provide a bit of an adrenaline boost.
However, it might be a sign that you've put a bit too much atmosphere into your book when at the end, when the characters are summing up the solution to the mystery, and tying up all the loose ends totally rationally, and then someone says, "Hey, what about that other thing?" and somebody else says, "Eh. Ghosts, maybe," and everybody else is like, "Yeah, could be." Then, yeah, you might have put too much atmosphere in your show more book.

(Incidentally, I didn't realize that the author intended to use that as an explanation; it felt very tacked on as a get-out-of-jail-free card. Otherwise I would've probably skipped this one! As it was, I just laughed it off, like, "Oh, M.M. Kaye. You can't do that in a detective novel!") show less

This is a murder mystery with the background of the Andamans Islands, another British enclave in the Indian Ocean. Three couples, Christmas house guests, have their love affairs interrupted by a number of murders. Isolated by a hurricane, fortified by endless brandy & sodas, they take on the solving of these murders as a parlor game.

When the murders solve themselves, the story, awash with political incorrectness, reverts back to the three couples and the inevitable happy ending.

A very acceptable final book of the Death in Exotic Locales that I said I wouldn't bother to get from the library but did anyway. The mystery was your basic country house style; isolated locale and limited cast of suspects. Toss in a possible ghost and a tropical storm and then the required romance. Here the amatuer detectives were 2 damsels in distress and 2 Knights in Shinning Armor but the formula stayed the much the same. The main problem I had was that there seemed to be no real good reason for the murderer to have done the deed. The final wrap up held together except for that particularly glaring bit. Also, the final wrap up took a small eternity of not very interesting prose. But the main story was an enjoyable one and the show more various red herrings thrown in made a good mystery. But now I am truly done with the series,there are no more. show less

Light and fluffy mystery/romance that passes an afternoon.