Cleverly, Barbara - RAGTIME IN SIMLA

[LJ Roberts]

RAGTIME IN SIMLA – VG

Cleverly, Barbara – 2nd in series

Scotland Yard Commander Joseph Sandilands, a World War I hero, has accepted an invitation to spend his vacation at the guesthouse of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal in Simla, the summer capital of the British Raj. A noted Russian opera singer who will be performing there shares a ride with him from the train station in the governor's car. As they climb the steep mountain road, a sniper kills the singer and Sandilands' vacation turns into an investigation. Working with the police, he discovers that there was an identical shooting a year earlier that remains unsolved. As he learns more about Simla, a transplanted slice of England in the Himalayan hills, he finds a web of blackmail, vice, and other nasty secrets behind the proper British facade.

Sandiland is a character you want to follow and know, with the other characters not always being what they seem. There are twists and turns that keep you going along the way. I already have book three on the TBR shelf. This is a wonderful series.