picked this up from the library the other day only to realize I'd already read it. Set in the time of the raj- it is well plotted and I loved the idea of people dying according to their phobia's
well done ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

#1 Joe Sandilands - what a great start to this series!! ( )

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 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.
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