A review by writerlibrarian
The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly

2.0

I'm on the fence with this book. I like the characters. I thought Joe is a character with depth and room to grow. I just loved Nancy, the Collector's wife. She reminded me of the very courageous, driven women that served in WW1 I've read about. The military life I liked even if I suspect it's not quite accurate. I liked the lush descriptions of Bengal and India. The mystery until the end kept me reading but unlike others I didn't find the "twist" at the end satisfying at all. Spoilers follow.....I find it very disturbing that again, the killer is gay and went on a killing/revenge spree because his lover was killed. A lover, he "rescued" when is was a young boy. Barely veiled hints of an adult taking advantage of a child here. Prentice would have still been in character if he had killed because of his wife. Less flashy and less "oh my god" they were gay lovers twist but more credible in my eyes, especially since the killer is supposed to be this almost half Indian warrior man, who grew up with this life code of revenge etc. It would have made better sense for me if it was for his wife and unborn child. That I would have bought completely. I will read the next ones because I liked Joe Sandilands as a character and I want to see where he's gonna end up.