The Last Kashmiri Rose

A complex and interesting British colonial mystery, with even more complexity and interest than that setting would ordinarily give. I appreciate the incredible level of historical detail, even while the sordid details and blatant racism gave me occasional pause -- not that I find it unrealistic, just that I find it uncomfortable. Joe is a sympathetic character, but I'm not sure how many of his adventures I'll choose to follow.

The premise behind this story was intriguing; however, its execution was less than satisfactory. Development of Sandilands' investigation maintained my interest in the mystery, but the plot development throughout was largely driven by Nancy Drummond (perhaps more of a main character?) rather than the police detective.

By midway through it was increasingly evident that Sandilands was not very insightful: his East Indian assistant, Naurung, was the real source of background information, subtly directing Sandilands' efforts to unravel the mysterious deaths. For my tastes, I found the rather deceptive affair in which the British detective was involved irrelevant to the plot, as well as a dead-end situation anyhow.

I'm not drawn to the show more author's character development. For such supposedly bright individuals involved in the saga, why would they make a mistake in the intended victim of the next murder? It didn't follow the previous 5 patterns and did not successfully raise any twisty tension. The book was an okay read for a quick adventure story, but doesn't encourage me to read any further stories involving Joe Sandilands. show less

The Last Kashmiri Rose, takes place in colonial India in 1922. Commander Joe Sandilands, a Scottish detective who's just completing a brief tour of duty in Calcutta, is on his way back home when the governor of Bengal requests his assistance in investigating a death at a military station. One of the regiments stationed in Panikhat is the Bengal Greys. In 1910, the wife of one of the officers was killed in a terrible fire. Each year after that, in March, one of the wives has died in a terrible accident. The governor’s niece, Nancy Drummond, brings photographs of her close friend, Peggy Somersham, who was found a week earlier in her bath with her wrists cut. Nancy insists that Peggy was happy in India, happy in her new marriage, and show more would have had no reason to kill herself. Nancy, who had been a nurse during WW1 also thinks it would have been impossible for Peggy to have cut her own wrists in that manner. Joe is intrigued with both Nancy and the case and heads out to Panikhat.

The setting is pre-independent India, a place where the British were the rulers and the natives the servants. The army officers, civil servants and their families lived a fairy tale life that is uncomfortable to believe today. A small group of British soldiers and civil servants controlled the entire subcontinent of India and lived a carefree life of privilege with servants to deal with every problem. The British never saw the Indians as anything other than servants and the justification was that the British were only acting as caretakers for people unable to govern themselves.

This was a fascinating book chiefly because of the setting and time. The mystery was intriguing and while the solution may not have been too surprising, the events surrounding it were. The story carries the reader along with the investigation. There were a lot of overwrought descriptions and some over the top dialogue, as well as a plethora of Indian slang. I loved the descriptions of India and would definitely try another by the same author. show less

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.

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: In a land of saffron sunsets and blazing summer heat, an Englishwoman has been found dead, her wrists slit, her body floating in a bathtub of blood and water. But is it suicide or murder? The case falls to Scotland Yard inspector Joe Sandilands, who survived the horror of the Western Front and has endured six sultry months in English-ruled Calcutta. Sandilands is ordered to investigate, and soon discovers that there have been other mysterious deaths, hearkening sinister ties to the present case.Now, as the sovereignty of Britain is in decline and an insurgent India is on the rise, Sandilands must navigate the treacherous corridors of political decorum to bring a cunning killer to justice…knowing show more the next victim is already marked to die.

My Review: This series begins on a high note, with the character of Joe Sandilands romping through soon-to-be-de-Britished India. He is an appealing character. He isn't, however, interesting enough to make me want to read more books in the series.

About the mystery itself, I was a little bit more interested in its solution than I expected to be. I was pretty sure I knew who was murdering the women, and was suspicious about why...but honestly I was surprised by the motivation of the killer. I was a little more involved than I expected to be as the body count mounted.

What I wasn't was convinced that the killings were in any way part of a pattern that convinced me. Sandilands appears to be chasing his own tail, and I'm never clear that he's actually investigating and solving the actual crime.

Well, it's not a terrible book. It's nicely written. India is a good backdrop, and ti's well evoked. But what we have here is a failure to launch. I'm...well...oh heck, I have to say it...bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. show less

(#6 in the 2007 book challenge)

Every single time I look at this book, I think the author's name is Beverly Cleverly, and I think about how dumb that sounds. This is a murder mystery set in India during the Raj, just post-WWI. I had some trepidation going in, that it was either going to make like life was delightful for everyone, or veer off in the other direction, with lots of hand-wringing about the shame of it all. I was fairly relieved that the book seemed to take a thoughtful middle road position. The mystery itself was decent enough ... it was obvious who but not why, which is a nice variation on knowing the who but not the how.

Grade: B
Recommended: To fans of fluffy English historical mysteries. Not overly graphic in terms of the show more crimes. show less

Fiendishly readable, even if the mystery is blindingly obvious (in fact so obvious that I was certain it must be a red herring, but no, alas). Late colonial India is not depicted with any depth - its a collection of stereotyped British men (some of the female characters have greater depth). Essentially the setting is there to give the story an exotic tinge, with some indulging in racial stereotypes as well. But as I said earlier despite all these flaws the story moves at a fast clip as the reader is fed with clues and backstory at that finely tuned rate which keeps up the feeling of discovery while not revealing too much at once. A decent read, and while not a great one, I will be keeping an eye out for the next in the series.