City of Bells (City of Mystery #4)(hist.myst){reesod}

City of Bells by Kim Wright
City of Mystery series #4
(historical mystery)




Geraldine Bainbridge is well known among her fashionable circa-1889 London set as an heiress, a philanthropist, and a supporter of highly unsuitable causes, including women’s rights. Fiercely independent, she is proud of having arrived at the age of 69 without ever having been, in her words, “netted and mounted.” But when a mysterious letter arrives from India – sent from a long-ago lover now jailed for the murder of his wife– even Gerry’s friends and family realize that they know very little of her romantic past.

As Geraldine journeys to assist with Anthony’s defense, she is joined by her close friend Detective Trevor Welles, head of Scotland Yard’s first forensics unit, as well we the rest of the Thursday Night Murder Games Club. The group has scarcely arrived in Bombay when it becomes clear this is no ordinary domestic crime, but rather a case with far-reaching political implications, whose roots stretch back to the Great Mutiny of 1857. Scrambling to unravel the clues before the body count goes yet higher, the Club must contend with documents which fall to dust in the wake of white termites, a tree whose sap yields “the perfect murder weapon,” the stubborn headmistress of an orphanage, and a meddling politician who seems determined to thwart the investigation at every turn.

As they combat the heat, the insects, the monsoons, and the petty prejudices of the Raj, often finding themselves more in sympathy with the suspects than the victims, Trevor and the others are forced to confront an uncomfortable question: Is murder ever justifiable?


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