Halloween Bingo 2024
I owned this book decades ago and gave it away at some point. I came to regret that decision and hunted down a replacement copy to add to my permanent collection. I have great fondness for Kaye's murder mysteries and it was a treat to revisit this one, even though my views of it have evolved. Unfortunately for me, my unreliable memory supplied me with the identity of the murderer. Thankfully most of the details had been expunged, giving me the ability to enjoy the structure of the mystery as well as the historical context.
Published in 1958, this was a very contemporary setting. In Kenya the Mau Mau Rebellion was underway and Kaye used it as the background for this story. She was married to a British military man and they were stationed in Kenya during the Mau Mau years, so she knew what life was like for those of European descent in that time period. This novel shows us the colonial mindset clearly and honestly it made me cringe. I didn't notice it nearly as much when I was younger, so I feel that I have progressed.
The mystery is pretty good, but the focus is on relationships: family, neighbourly, and romantic. Victoria is summoned to Kenya by her aunt, Lady Emily, owner of the Flamingo estate. Having been engaged to Emily's grandson, Eden, years ago, Victoria feels safe answering the call, as she knows that he has married. The author knows better, however, that being married doesn't mean safety. As Victoria gets to know the characters around the Flamingo, she realizes that there is Lisa (married to the land manager Gilly) who is obviously pursuing Eden. Then there is the son from a nearby property, Ken, who had an unrequited thing for Eden's wife, Alice. Victoria's flight lands the day after Alice has been murdered and she is immediately plunged into the middle of themurder investigation.
Having lived around many ex-pat communities in the British Empire, Kaye no doubt observed these kinds of interactions many times. She uses them in all of her murder mysteries to great effect. She also used lived experience—she was pregnant with their second child when her military man got his divorce and was able to marry her. Kaye claimed it was love at first sight, another phenomenon that occurs in these books regularly. It happens in Agatha Christie's fiction too. Perhaps that's why there are so many wayward spouses in their fiction. Insta-love doesn't seem like a stable basis for a long, happy marriage.
Okay, now the Halloween Bingo machinations: I used The Lottery wild card to abracadabra my Dark Academia square and replace it with Romantic Suspense.
This is also book 18 of my 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment