The Damascened Blade - Hardcover

Cleverly, Barbara.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1841196762 ISBN 13: 9781841196763

Publisher: Constable, 2003

Synopsis

In the northwest frontier 1910, the screams of a wounded British officer abandoned at the bottom of a dark ravine are heard by a young Scottish subaltern. Ignoring the command to retreat to base the Highlander sets out alone, with dagger in hand, to rescue his fellow officer from the Pathan tribesman who is slowly torturing him to death. But the bloody outcome of this rescue attempt is not what anybody could have predicted. Over a dozen years later the backwash of this tragedy threatens to engulf Joe Sandilands. On a welcome break from his policing duties, Joe is spending a fortnight with his old army friend, James Lindsay, commander of the British army's front line fort at Gor Khatri on the Afghan border. However, the fragile peace is soon broken resulting in the death of a Pathan prince and the taking of hostages, and Joe and his companion are given seven days in which to identify, arrest and execute the killer before the frontier erupts into war. The deadly edge of the final days of the Raj sets the backdrop for this third engrossing novel in the popular Joe Sandilands series.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara Cleverly has spent her working life in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk; she now lives in Cambridge. She has one son and five step-children. Her fourth Joe Sandilands novel, The Palace Tiger, is to be published by Constable in 2004.

From AudioFile

Terry Wale reads in a well-paced, deliberate manner, delineating each character with various intonations and British accents. An odd cast of characters finds themselves at a lonely British outpost on the Afghan border: various soldiers, the commandant and his wife, a Scotland Yard policemen, a young American adverturess, a middle-aged woman doctor, and several educated Afghani tribesmen. One of the group is murdered, and the inspector sets out to identify the perpetrator. As he follows various red herrings, the mystery plot vies with details of the historical locale, a fascinating place of wild culture and danger. A complex solution ensues. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Constable
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841196762
• ISBN 13: 9781841196763
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 287