Mary Margaret Kaye (1908-2004) was born in India, where her father was a civil servant. Her heart never left the country, even as she returned to England for an education and traveled with her Army husband all over the world. She’s best remembered for her epic story of historical romance, adventure, and political intrigue The Far Pavilions (Allen Lane, 1978), a bestselling novel adapted for screen and stage. Before her magnum opus, 1000 pages which took 15 years to complete, she wrote and illustrated children’s books, historical fiction, her autobiography in three volumes, and a half dozen mysteries set in the various locations where she’d lived. See the following extensive website on Kaye for her biography, art, book covers, and appreciation: https://www.mmkaye.com/index.html.
The first of her mysteries was Death Walked in Kashmir, published in 1953 and re-issued in 1984 as Death in Kashmir. The story takes place in 1947 during the months before the Indian Independence Act of 15 August 1947, which created India and Pakistan as two self-governing nations and ended 150 years of British colonial rule in the region. The Kashmir state itself is divided between Pakistan, China, and India; more than one conflict over borders has been waged since the declaration of independence.
British residents are liquidating assets and visiting their favorite places in the country one last time in anticipation of their departure. As part of these farewell activities, Sarah Parrish joins a skiing party in the mountains of Gulmarg, where two of the skiers are killed, one after the other, in ambiguous circumstances. Because Sarah heard the second skier leave the camp late one night, she ended up learning more than she ever dreamed about espionage activities in the soon-to-be emancipated country. Her knowledge sent her to a houseboat near Srinagar, where critical information was hidden to which multiple individuals tried to gain access.
Kaye’s narrative describes an enchanting region that she clearly loved. I found this story to be more than anything an immersion in the ambience of India during the last days of the Raj, displaying the politics and attitudes of the people living there. Other nations were eager to gain a foothold in the new nation that had been a British monopoly for so long, hence increased espionage activity.
Kaye had a knack for creating suspense; throughout the story Sarah puts herself into situations that emanate fear and danger. Kaye was also very good at hiding villains in plain sight. Of all the characters I suspected, the real killer was not one of them. The obligatory romance is a little tiresome. Sarah is always getting rescued from dangerous settings by the man of her dreams.
A leisurely told story with perceptive insights about the India of a bygone day and a very good puzzle for traditional mystery readers.