THE LAST KASHMIRI ROSE by Barbara Cleverly

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

"It is 1922, in Panikhat, located on the plains fifty miles from Calcutta. In March of each of the past five years the wife of a cavalry 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 as a suicide. Yet each of the memsahibs died in the manner she would have feared most." Only one link between the five cases 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 and the able assistance of an Indian police havildar, Naurung Singh, Joe Sandilands finds himself running a race against time and a serial killer who alone knows the recipient of the next Kashmiri rose.

RATING:

While the locale & setting takes a new twist on the traditional serial killer storyline, I found this an enjoyable but rather ordinary read nothing close to all the hype that was given the book (ie NEW YORK TIMES "Notable", etc., etc.). Sandilands is an appealing character and Cleverly definitely has style & flair in her writing so I'd read another in the series.