| Summer in Provence with the Marvelous Joe Sandilands |
June 1, 2010
Barbara Cleverly has written some of the best mysteries I've ever read, including The Last Kashmiri Rose, Ragtime in Simla, The Bee's Kiss, and now this new one in the Joe Sandilands series, Strange Images of Death. The novel flows easily from past Sandilands episodes but whether you read the earlier books or not, you will know where you are right away: on a ride south from London to Provence with the intelligent and enigmatic Sandilands, his teenage sidekick and charmer Dorcas, and her equally charming father, Orlando. This time around Sandilands, Orlando, and Dorcas are guests of a French nobleman at his aptly-named Chateau du Diable in the South of France. The castle-fortress has been in the nobleman's family for centuries -- the father of Eleanor Aquitaine was a visitor, predating "George Washington slept here" by centuries. The Chateau's history of violence, lust, infidelity, and greed is set to repeat itself just as soon as Sandilands appears, and aren't we lucky? Yes!
What makes Cleverly's mysteries so very wonderful -- as good as any "serious" novel -- is how she creates characters that are psychologically compelling as well as physically interesting and distinct, and places them within landscapes that are so richly developed that the landscape itself becomes a character in the novel, whether it be colonial India, between-the-wars England, or the creatively fecund world of post World War I France. In Strange Images of Death, we are in Provence in the 1920s, staying with Sandilands in the creepy chateau-fort alongside artistic eccentrics; and together with the cast of characters we enjoy, through Cleverly's words, the smells, sights, and sounds of one of the most beautiful regions on earth. We also are brought deep into the thicket of mystery and murder, heated by the Provence sun and fueled by its foods and drinks.
Cleverly always outsmarts me, leaving me guessing until the very end who did the murders and why, but providing me with all the clues I was just too distracted to pick up on -- distracted by great characters, beautiful scenery, and tons of great history to boot. Time spent reading Cleverly books is always time well spent and time much enjoyed. I plan on trying out her new series starring Leatitia Talbot, an aspiring female archeologist from the Roaring Twenties. I am sure they will be as brilliant as her Sandilands novels.
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