The Last Kashmiri Rose: Murder and Mystery in the Final Days of the Raj (Joe Sandilands Murder Mysteries) - Hardcover

Cleverly, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786710594 ISBN 13: 9780786710591

Publisher: Carroll & Graf, 2002

Synopsis

Conjuring up the last golden days of the Raj and the turbulent early ones of Indian rule, this suspenseful and atmospheric first novel—the winner of the Crime Writer Association’s Debut Dagger competition—draws the governor of Bengal, local police authorities, and visiting Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands into an increasingly baffling and bizarre case of serial murder. It is 1922, in Panikhat. In March of each of the past five years the wife of an officer in the Bengal Greys has met with a violent and terrifying death. One died in a fire, another by a cobra bite, the third from a fall, and the fourth victim drowned. Of course, they all might have been accidents, while the death of Captain Somersham’s pretty young wife, who was found with her wrists cut, could be ruled a suicide. One link between the five cases, however, points to foul, disturbing play. On the anniversary of the deaths small red roses mysteriously appear on the women’s graves. With only a few days to go before the end of March and with faith in the new Western science of psychological profiling, Joe Sandilands finds himself running a race against time and a serial killer who alone knows the recipient of the next Kashmiri rose. “The atmosphere of the dying days of the Raj is colorfully captured.”—Sunday Telegraph “Introduces an intelligent author and an interesting investigator.”—Morning Star

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0786710594
• ISBN 13: 9780786710591
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288