The latest death appears to be suicide. Peggy Somersham has been found in her bathtub, wrists slit. While the coroner is quick to rule suicide, even Joe’s untrained eye can see from the pictures Nancy took that the cuts do not look like they could be self inflicted. Nancy wants Joe to find the person responsible for her friend’s death and hopes the same person can be connected to the many deaths going back twelve years to a horrible fire that killed the young wife of Major Prentice and her bearer.

Nancy promises to provide Joe’s entrée into the social circle of the military elite and supply any background and gossip he might require. Joe quickly learns that the English in India are living quite a different lifestyle than they might back home. He also realizes that the power the English once held in India is losing strength and that the Indians are ready to take advantage of this and attempt to claim their government once their foothold is strong enough. Joe reminds himself that while he is involved in the social intricacies of the investigation, he should not lose focus of the larger, political picture, knowing that answers may well lie where the two intersect.

The Last Kashmiri Rose is a richly imagined setting with a very satisfying plot. Barbara Cleverly has recreated the opulence of the British Empire and the lavish lifestyles of those who lived it and has deftly juxtaposed it next to the poorer natives, biding their time, readying to strike to reclaim what is theirs.

The plot, woven between the elite social circles of the British officers and the larger, overall picture of the political climate, neatly constructs several different scenarios, leaving the final resolution and the reason for the murders very much a surprise. Joe Sandilands and Nancy Drummond are worthy partners, as each wrestles with issues of their own, but come together for their common cause of ending the murders once and for all. A richly drawn, exotic setting and an intricately plotted mystery will capture imaginations.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry