The Spanish Diplomat's Secret

April 1, 2023

In summer 1894, Anglo Indian Jim Agnihotri, a former British army captain now with Boston's Dupree Detective Agency, and wife Diana, a Parsi Zoroastrian woman originally from Bombay (now Mumbai), are heading to England for a holiday aboard an ocean liner. Alas, a passenger winds up murdered, and guess who the captain asks to solve the crime before the ship docks? Third in a series launched with Edgar, Anthony, Barry, Hammett, Macavity, and Audie finalist Murder in Old Bombay; with a 50,000-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

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July 31, 2023
Anglo-Indian private investigator Jim Agnihotri and his wife, Lady Diana, have their 19th-century ocean liner journey from the U.S. to England interrupted by theft and murder in March’s convoluted sequel to 2022’s Peril at the Exposition. With only a week until the ship reaches port and no plausible way on or off, guests are rattled when the Spanish ambassador to the U.S., Don Juan Nepomuceno, is found murdered and missing a case of jewels. A short time later, young Alice Fry also turns up dead, an apparent suicide—though some traveling with her insist she was the victim of a supernatural curse—and Jim and Diana decide to investigate. March provides a classic locked-room mystery setup, but fails to winnow down the suspects early enough, causing the plot to drag—Jim reiterates his purpose (“My mind returned to my present conundrum; who’d murdered the Spanish don, and why?”) one too many times as he wades through a sea of red herrings. He’s an amiable hero, with a rich backstory as a soldier in the British Indian army, but Diana is unevenly drawn, by turns an overeager partner (“We have to catch this maniac!”) and a woman prone to “dark malaise.” Still, historical mystery fans will relish March’s well-integrated maritime research and echoes of such Christie classics as Murder on the Orient Express. Despite this lackluster entry, there’s hope for the series yet.

August 1, 2023
Murder on a trans-Atlantic ship, with a luxe collection of suspects. As his wife, Lady Diana Framji, twirls around the ballroom, former Indian soldier and occasional sleuth James Agnihotri, aka Jim O'Trey, is vomiting his rich dinner over the rail of the HMS Etruria. He's approached by a concerned military veteran who turns out to be the eponymous diplomat. It's 1894, and the "floating fortress" has an international guest list on its journey from Boston to Liverpool. James senses mystery and tension beneath the surface of the passengers, even Diana. His suspicions are confirmed when, shortly after he receives a note from the Spanish gentleman, who identifies himself as J. Nepomuceno and requests a meeting, the man is found garroted in his stateroom. Fearing that the ship will be detained in Liverpool until the killer is found, Capt. Hawley requests Jim's assistance in solving the crime. The flow of the investigation and the circle of suspects have a classic feel right down to the characters' names, from stewardess Edna Pickle and Dr. Witherspoon to guests Evangeline Pontin, Beau Lattibeaudiere, and Palmer Bly, and waiflike maid Dora Zu. March's gift for elevated language nicely supports the period setting, and this third book in the series advances the core relationship between newlyweds Diana and James. Along the way to solving the intricate mystery, they banter like a shipboard Nick and Nora, and he eventually learns the source of her initial unease. Familiar mystery tropes are skillfully woven into an entertaining vintage whodunit.

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August 1, 2023
The Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries have moved from Bombay under the British Raj in 1892, to Boston and then Chicago during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and now, in the third installment, set in 1894, to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Captain Jim and his wife, Lady Diana, are traveling on a steamship when a well-connected Spanish gentleman is strangled to death in the ship's music room. The ship's captain presses Captain Jim, who served as a sepoy in the British army in India and is now a detective, to solve the murder before the ship reaches Liverpool in six days. The tight deadline amps up the suspense as Captain Jim narrates his experiences on the boat and recollects his harrowing youth as an Indian British man serving in the British army. Also harrowing are descriptions of his frequent bouts of seasickness. (Squeamish alert!) The farther Captain Jim and Lady Diana travel from Bombay, the more the mysteries seem to lose their initial force, linked to the social inequities of British rule. For fans of the series.

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