In 1909, Rajpore, Major William Russell, is found dead. As the Maharajah Sikander Singh enjoys solving problems and is bored, he decides to investigate and solve the case. Because Russell turns out to be of bad character there are plenty of suspects to be examined.
The mystery was fair enough but I am not sure there was one character that I liked, with a lot of the British characters to be just cliches. Also there was certainly too much description of places and buildings for my taste which slowed the pace of the book.
A NetGalley Book ( )

The tale is entertaining enough, but I had quite a few issues with the book. The US spelling is jarring in a context that is so decidedly British. A glossary for the many Anglo-Indian terms is sadly lacking. Having read my fair share of books about the Raj, from Flashman to the Jewel in the Crown, I knew a lot of them, but not all. The style is over-the-top, flowery and piling one metaphor upon the other. The descriptions read like a catalogue for luxury merchandise, the cologne is not simple eau de cologne, but has to be Farina etc. It is riddled with clichés, from the resident gone native, over the stiff-upper-lip murdered resident, to the incompetent native servants and the loyal family retainer.
Finally, there are too many plain mistakes. Having a resident spend four decades on the station from the Mutiny onwards puts him in 1897, not 1904. Geographical distances would not have been measured in kilometres. The French words are usually mis-spelled, etc etc etc. And most disappointing of all: in a book written presumably by an Indian I hoped for an Indian point-of-view on life in a small princely state. Instead we get the same arrogance and prejudice the British displayed. Okay, so he was educated at Eton and Oxford, but at the time this is set, wouldn’t he have met with serious racism and picked up a healthy skepticism of the superiority of the white race? In fact, he is treated with disdain on the occasion of a visit to the club, and demonstrates the same submission and kow-towing he berates his own subjects for. Not to mention a truly ludicrous solution to the case. To say more would be spoilering, but it is truly inept ( )

Crime fiction set in the declining years of the British Raj in India, but very much from an Indian point of view. There are characters in here who illustrate the very worst, and most corrupt elements, of the administration. The British have survived the Indian Mutiny (1857) and, convinced of their racial superiority, will survive for another four decades until 1947. Administration in Rajpore in the Punjab in 1909 is a precarious division of power between the Maharajah and the British Resident, found dead in his bed behind a locked door.

Nearly all of those we meet in the British administration are incompetent or corrupt, but are they murderers? For Sikander Singh this is a splendid opportunity to exercise his detection skills, and there seem to be no lack of suspects. His position as Maharajah allows him through doors that other Indians would not be able to access, but even then there are impenetrable barriers.

The structure of the novel is based on best Golden Age crime fiction, with a maze of plot threads, and a plethora of red herrings. As this novel is intended to be first in a trilogy, there is a lot of what I would term "background material", which sometimes is a bit tedious, but it paints a rich picture of the times and the setting. The character of the Maharajah is well developed.

At the end the Maharajah holds a Poirot-like denouement in which the major suspects are dismissed one by one.

A good, interesting, read. ( )

This mystery was sent to me by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press via Net Galley. Thank you.

A Very Pukka Murder is a take on the classic mysteries of the Golden Age. It’s all about the puzzle with the amateur sleuth uncovering the clues, following the trail of red herrings, and finally revealing all to the suspects in the drawing room/dining room/train car. However, this 21st century historical mystery set in 1909 has a unique twist. The location is the Raj in India and the sleuth is none other than the Maharaja of Rajpore Sikander Singh.

Sikander, the absolute ruler of his kingdom, is a Renaissance man, educated in the finest English schools, a connoisseur of the finest wines, an accomplished pianist and art collector. He also has an analytical mind which draws him to puzzles and he exercises his abilities with the most challenging puzzles, the solving of murders. To hone his natural skills he has studied the emerging field of criminology with the finest French criminologists and has become an expert in all types of poisons.

This does not endear him to the British enclave in Rajpore who consider themselves innately superior to the Maharaja because they are white. When Sikander decides to involve himself in solving the murder of the highest British official in his capitol he is met with opposition, derision, and downright racism at all levels of the colonial society. He endures veiled and blatant insults during his investigation from stupid young lieutenants all the way up to the Magistrate. The British want a swift, painless solution: if suicide does not work then the culprit must have been one of Major Russell’s servants who did the despicable man in.

Sikander, quite aware of his superiority on all levels, manages, most of the time, to dismiss the ignorant biases of the occupiers. Only a few times does he let their actions get under his skin. He is a fascinating man because he has his own flaws; he drinks too much and insults his staff even though the insults seem to be more affection than ire. In the end, with a very satisfying conclusion to the murder, he asserts his position, shows compassion to some individuals, and utterly destroys others.

This novel is the first of a trilogy. Besides being a very good mystery, it shows the Raj from the Indian point of view. I am looking forward to the remaining books. ( )