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The Last Kashmiri Rose
 
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The Last Kashmiri Rose (Mass Market Paperback)


3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Book Description


The Last Kashmiri Rose

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 the next victim is already marked to die.



From the Back Cover

“Has just about everything: a fresh, beautifully realized exotic setting; a strong, confident protagonist; a poignant love story; and an exquisitely complex plot.”
--The Denver Post

“An engrossing tale of serial murder and the impending decline of the British Empire.”
--Publishers Weekly

“spellbinding.”
--The New York Times Book Review

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2.0 out of 5 stars Pukka concept, disappointing execution, Nov 10 2003
By A Customer
Barbara Cleverly has done her research, all right; this mystery is chockfull of brand names, fashion details, and exotic flavors straight out of 1920s India. Her plot is solid, her setting is a winner, and her characters are only sometimes ripped off from Kipling. It's just too bad that Cleverly didn't bother to research the actual speech and behavior of the English in 1920s India, while she was at it. If you like to think of the past as being just like today, only in fancy dress, you'll love this book (and the clunky writing probably won't faze you, either). If anachronism grates on you, but you're still in the mood for plotty mysteries with a British-Empire setting, read Michael Pearce's Mamur Zapt series instead. *Please.*
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4.0 out of 5 stars a surprise ending, Sep 17 2003
By D. Cusick "scalloway" (Glen Ridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Last Kashmiri Rose: Murder and Mystery in the Final Days of the Raj (Hardcover)
This book was not perfect, though I found it a great effort from a first-time novelist. I love mysteries, and I have always been fascinated by India, so this was a great combination. I didn't feel that the main character, Joe Sandilands, was as well-developed as I would like, and at the end of the book I still felt I didn't know him well, and didn't know what motivated him. I also felt his relationship with Nancy was a bit shallowly developed and not quite convincing.

However I thought the mystery part was very well-developed and interesting, and while the identity of the killer became obvious about 3/4 of the way through the book I was stumped as to motive, and the motive as revealed at the end was a complete surprise to me. I do wish I knew what a previous reviewer considered to be a physical impossibility in the solution. If so I sure didn't spot it. :-)

Anyway, never having been to India I guess I can be less critical of the less-than-authentic aspects mentioned. But I have recently read the 3-volume autobiography of author MM Kaye who was born and raised in India and spent much of her young adult life there as well. She was born in 1908 so her life coincided with the era of this novel. She frequently spoke of and referred to speaking Hindustani and said it was a shame no one seemed to speak in anymore as they had in her youth. According to her book Hindustani is NOT Hindi, but a language that combined elements of Hindi and Urdu, so I admit I just took that reference in the book for granted.

Anyway, I still look forward to additional novels by Cleverly, and can't wait for the second to come out in paperback. I hope that we will learn more about Joe as the series progresses.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat expert thinking, July 21 2003
By Nancy L. (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Last Kashmiri Rose: Murder and Mystery in the Final Days of the Raj (Hardcover)
I lived in the state of Bihar in India from 1956 to 1959, when I was a child. Bihar is the state immediately to the west of Bengal, where The Last Kashmiri Rose is set, so I was interested to see how Barbara Cleverly handled her story. On the positve side she gets a lot of the factual stuff right, Bengali is the major language in Bengal, although Hindi (which she invariably calls Hindustani) is spoken by many. The plot is interesting, and the solution to the mystery is quite inventive; however, I ended up having a lot of problems with both the plot and the handling of India as a backdrop to the story. No one living in India would refer to Hindi as Hindustani repeatedly, 2 syllables are always better than 4; the younger Englishwomen's hair and dress lengths in 1922 are about 3 to 5 years ahead of what they would have been, but these are small things. I felt there was way too much of the happy darky syndrome, a la old Hollywood and the plantation slaves. India became independent in 1947, the book is advertised as the final days of the Raj, which is also not accurate, but not Cleverly's fault; however, even in 1922 all Indians across the board would not have been so happy to be servants, or villagers, or field workers, and not so deferential, or even submissive as they are pictured, particularly the Sikhs. One important plot twist centers around our hero, an interesting guy and a supposed English gentleman and his interest in one of the women in the story - his reactions to her are out of character, or, perhaps shallowly portrayed. The most important plot twist centers around the appearance of the killer, and Cleverly's solution, while interesting, is also physically impossible. Which gave me a lot of problems. Ultimately, if you're someone who knows India at all, this is probably not the book for you, but if you don't, it is, if you remain pretty uncritical, not a bad read.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An atmospheric mystery set in India during the British Raj
In this pleasantly restrained murder mystery, a Scotland Yard detective comes to a British Army post in India to look into a series of deaths among officers' wives. Read more
Published on July 18 2003 by M. A Michaud

4.0 out of 5 stars An atmospheric mystery set in India during the British Raj
In this pleasantly restrained murder mystery, a Scotland Yard detective comes to a British Army post in India to look into a series of deaths among officers' wives. Read more
Published on July 18 2003 by M. A Michaud

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding start for a great new series
As a long-time fan of historical novels, I've gotten pretty bored with the standard Victorian, medieval, etc. periods, no matter how well they are written. Read more
Published on May 24 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars good mystery plot, though a little lacking in depth
Commander Joseph Sandilands of the Metropolitan Police (who had been seconded to the Bengal police for six months) is happily counting the hours to his departure from India (he... Read more
Published on Aug 29 2002 by tregatt

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful new character, wonderful new writer
I loved this book for a lot of reasons. Firstly it is a brilliantly told detective story - right up there with the best. Read more
Published on Aug 7 2002 by Peter White

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