Good job on the suspense! And on keeping the villain under wraps till the big reveal. I was wrong in my suspicion of whom it was; I am happy to report that it wasn't as obvious as I thought it was going to be. ( )

Sarah parrish,our protagonist, is an independently wealthy English young person who lives in india, at least until partition, which is supposed to happen in the next year.
The book starts out with her going to a ski club meet-up in the vale of Kashmir, high up in the mountains surrounding. She's staying in a hotel with other members of the ski club, but they plan to go higher up and stay in a ski Hut, in order to access the best runs. Her "bearer," is unhappy with the idea, because he says that the ski Hut is dangerous. The reason is because there are avalanches in the area. But this part of the book struck me:
"The ski hut, said bulaki, was damp and insecure. It was also a place of evil omen, for had not the first ski-Hut been buried by an avalanche -- and with no less than three young sahibs within it at the time? He himself has spoken with a man who had helped to dig out the bodies of those same sahibs, and... At which point Sarah had cut him short with some haste, and having repeated her intention to spend the night in the khilanmarg hut, requested him to pack what she would need for the expedition while she was at breakfast."
Hello? Is she a cripple, that she can't pack for herself? ( )

Finished! I am really impressed. This is the first book by M.M. Kaye that I have read, and I am grateful that this was a choice for a group read of the Retro Reads group.

The mystery was interesting, and believeable, and the creepiness factor was turned up high! M.M. Kaye really writes suspense well! Without being gory or super violent.

I loved the description of Kashmir, the mustards and lilacs and saffrons, and the birds playing such a great part in the scenery.


I did not like Charles too much, he seemed a bit too much, acting as if everything belonged to him. And all the cigarettes being lit, and then at the end he flicks a butt carelessly into the lake, errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh that steamed me up! I guess for a person to be that type of employment, he would have to be certain of his right to everything.

Do you think that Major McKay, 'advancing cautiously to the rescue,' rescued Meril? Although their characters were painted as awkward, I found them quite endearing.

Overall, this was a great book, one of the few mysteries that I could see myself re-reading. ( )

The best of the series so far, less of the standard formula the others suffer from. That being said the heroine, Sarah, is fairly slow figuring out clues but does have a certain level of foolhardy courage that helps her out of some crazy messes. The end somewhat falls apart the way Death in Zanzibar did, in hopelessly outdated jingoism. However, a quick and fun read.

Kaye is a well-rounded writer. She includes great characters, awesome setting, suspense, mystery. I just love this series! ( )