I enjoyed Barbara’s first book about Joe Sandilands in 1920s India, The Last Kashmiri Rose, and found that the second book in the series is even better. The story grabs your attention from the beginning and the twists and turns of the plot hold that attention throughout. Commander Joe Sandilands is a very competent detective from Scotland Yard whose experiences fighting on the Western Front have given him empathy, toughness and physical skills. As a relative newcomer to India his impressions are fresh and thoughtful. The author moves with authority from France to India and integrates memories of the past – particularly the First World War.
India in 1922 remains at the core of the tale and the lifestyle of the privileged is revealed through the events of the story. Simla is beautifully described in all its crowded English countrified splendour with the Indian aspects bidding to overwhelm the conqueror’s evocation of home. The increasing precariousness of the British control of India is hinted at even as the security of the British Raj is expounded. The European women who are very significant in the story are a varied and interesting bunch whom Joe often finds very attractive. They illustrate well the functions of different types of women in this society apparently dominated by men. Indians of several social levels appear – the highly educated upper class with their tribal background, the steady police and army troopers and a lovely version of the Baker Street Irregulars. European men are less unusual than the women – there is a wily and manipulative Governor of Bengal while the local police superintendent is cooperative and straightforward. The other end of the spectrum is reached with the seedy inhabitants of a sort of male chummery whose lives revolve around heavy drinking, shooting (for sport!) and sexual adventures. Suspicions about a dangerous member of their ranks with connections to potential blackmail through his partial ownership of a brothel are difficult to prove as his pals offer little to alibi or implicate him. They cannot give clear verifiable descriptions of their days!
The solution to the initial murder involves the twists and turns of plotting that I mentioned earlier and the ending has the ends ll satisfactorily tied up.
A really excellent book, I think. To add a small point - I do like the cover
of the paperback which has a colourful design of peacock feathers and flowers
mainly in blues and greens.
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Jennifer Palmer
There are three adventures so far – The Last Kashmiri Rose is the first,
and the third, The Damascened Blade, is available in hardback.