Love and Death Among the Cheetahsby Rhys Bowen
Rating: ★★★★
Series: Royal Spyness #13
Publication Date: August 6, 2019
Pages: 304
Publisher: Berkley
The author starts this instalment with an apology in advance; the book is set in Africa – Kenya – during the late 20’s/early 30’s, a time when race relations and the views of the British Empire (as were the rest of the world) were shameful.
This had me braced for difficult reading, but I have to say, that was not the disclaimer I needed. In true cozy style, Bowen acknowledged the dichotomy and inequality between white and black without really verbalising it. What caught me unawares (and shouldn’t have; I can only wonder if the pre-apology diverted me), was the casual references to hunting big game. Of course it was a thing back then, and of course I should have seen it coming.
The other unexpected part of the story was the behaviour of the upper class in Kenya; a risqué path for a cozy, but done well by the author, and based on actual events and a real person: Lady Idina Sackville. Bowen closes with a short bibliography of texts she used in an effort to write about the times accurately.
All in all, another enjoyable instalment in a long-running series that has remained fairly strong throughout, balancing cheeky naiveté and interesting murder plots.
I wasn’t a fan of the first book, but I am intrigued by the incorporation of Lady Idina. Hm, …
Knowing almost nothing about Lady Idina, I can’t say how faithful a representation it is. but faithful or not, it’s a cozy, so that air of naiveté is still overlaid across the story. Not sure if you’d find it more interesting that the first one or not – though I think the first one (maybe 3) were the fluffiest of the lot. Even I had a time of it swallowing Georgie in the first book.
I’m toying with the idea of making January a “try something new” month. (The rest of this year will be taken up by the Mt. TBR project, HW Bingo, my annual November WWI reads and then Christmas…)
I’ve got a couple of Sci-fi books that I acquired out of curiosity (read the first chapter of The Sparrow and am really keen to get back to it but alas) and I think they’ll have to wait until Jan, too. So, I might just make it a new project for a month – including a couple of more Bowens and The Glass Thief.
Sounds like it could be an interesting January. 🙂 I have opinions on the Bowens, btw, if you plan on readign more than 1. ::grin:: I really think The Twelve Clues of Christmas might be the best one in the series. It’s book 6, and it’s still totally a cozy, but I just loved the plot, which was very un-cozy.
Great! Is it Christmas-related? Should I perhaps plan for it in December?
If you can fit it in in December, yes. It’s definitely a Christmas mystery.
Now, you realise, if you don’t like it I’m never, ever recommending another book to you again. 😀
Well, that’s a lot of pressure. I would not want to forego future recommendations from you.
I’d probably just strongly suggest in future. 😉
Hm…