MURDER ON THE SACRED RIVER, the TWENTIETH Lady Emily Ashton series mystery

MURDER ON THE SACRED RIVER (Lady Emily Ashton #20)
TASHA ALEXANDER
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: In this next enthralling mystery in Tasha Alexander’s bestselling series, Lady Emily chases down a killer in India along the misty banks of the sacred river Narmada.

1908: Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves, along with an eccentric group of English tourists, are vacationing in India at Ahilya Fort, the old home to the Maharaja’s family, when a man is found shot along the Narmada River. Emily and Colin jump into action, but their suspect list is large, including a wonderful spinster and her not-so-wonderful companion; a local doctor; a widow who lives nearby; an English explorer; and an Englishman who now runs a tea plantation near Darjeeling.

1740: Fifteen-year-old Ahilyabai has been married to the son of Malharrao Holkar, the Lord of the Malwa territory, for seven years. Now the time has finally come to produce an heir. But though Ahilya’s in-laws have shown her nothing but kindness, her notoriously-drunken husband remains a mystery to her, having rarely spoken to Ahilya since their wedding as children. Faced with this tortured and distant man, Ahilya’s sense of loyalty is tested as she attempts to balance fulfilling her duty with forging her own destiny. Her decisions will have ripple effects across time—including Lady Emily’s investigation almost two hundred years later.

Lady Emily’s case takes a dramatic turn when a shocking new person arrives at the fort—and when the killer strikes again shortly afterwards, she and Colin must race to uncover the villain’s identity before it’s too late.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: So, dual timelines...I did not know when I picked up this series how that was going to remain a feature of the reading experience. At least I've never, not once, felt unsure of which timeline I'm reading.

I confess the whole "sacred river" trope felt bookhorned into the plot. It's more set-dressing than it is integral to the action from my observation, a kind of local color add-on that doesn't sit very well with me when it's so emphasized in the synopsis.

Colin and Lady Emily are exactly as you'd expect them to be, and that's a good thing. Like Peabody and Emerson, they're as British as Bovril and just as unmistakable. The murder victim is the sort of person who they'd cut dead. And, may I say, dead's the exact right way for the creep to be. The interrelationship of the murder to the 1740s timeline bordered on psychometry, and wasn't a bit surprising; but it was absolutely fascinating as a piece of historical knowledge I now treasure possessing.

There was a slight air of didacticism surrounding the proceedings as we-the-reader are quite brusquely led to the conclusions Author Tasha wishes us to reach. It's not as elegantly done as I could wish, but since I agree with her, I'll look past it.

Already a fan? Here's another one to enjoy. Not yet a fan? This is a good place to start. Don't like historical mysteries? Please see a therapist at your earliest opportunity.