I have to get my distaste for this title out of the way: this book has a terrible title, it reminds me of a Gothic Romance. The book gets much better beyond the title and I found it a really interesting read. Marjorie Eccles wrote this stand alone book (I can not remember the last historical mystery that was not part of a series) that sends the reader back and forth between 1909 South Africa and 1918 England. There are multiple narrators and two parallel stories that eventually come together to solve the mystery.
The changing point of view was compelling but at times unsettling. Eccles did such a good job inhabiting the different narrators that each shift felt like reading a different book. I am not sure if this is the nature of the style or if the author lacked fluidity. I think part of the problem is that the second story does not appear until the reader is well into the book (around p. 140). One result is that the story is masterfully crafted but the reader has difficulty connecting to any of the characters. The second component seems to have little bearing on the mystery for the majority of the book and could almost be called a family saga. It is this section where Eccles feels most comfortable and the characters and setting really come alive, drawing the reader into the fictional world and by far the more compelling tale. All of this means that for a mystery reader, it takes a bit of work to get through but the trip is well worth the read.
The Boer war is not often discussed in these books, it is confusing (hard to say who was the *good guys*) and the ensuing atrocities shocking. The choice to use it as a setting is a difficult one: how to maintain sympathy for the protagonists (White, British) without denying the beliefs of the era. I do not want to say that this is impossible but it is very difficult and Eccles definitely fails here, a flip comment by a narrator about how everyone knows White people are superior to all and this reader stops caring about the fate of said character. On the other hand, had Eccles ignored the reality of British settlers of the time, the story would not ring true.
It is also difficult to say if the exclusion of non British or Dutch perspectives is a conscious choice on the part of the author to demonstrate the folly of the time or if in fact this is done without thought and demonstrates the Eurocentricity of the writing. Either way, Eccles succeeds in making the reader think about a time and place that we do not know what to do with, the statue in Toronto seems to say we should be proud of the boys we sent to kill and die, but it is not celebrated because the motivation and results were less than honourable. Colonialism has such a complex and varied legacy and I am, glad to see that people are attempting to unpack some of its baggage, even if the outcome is somewhat flawed or messy.
I am glad that I read this book but I am not sure that I will read more from the author. This book made me realize how many settings there are to be explored and how few are currently used. I enjoy reading about London and New York but there is a whole world out here to glean stories and ideas from. I think that as the genre grows and more people write historical mysteries we will find more diversity in our authors and therefor in the settings and eras. I want to read about Mexico after the Revolution or abolition era Brazil; imagine the possibilities of partitioning Inda or Czarist Russia! For now I guess I will have to settle for Amelia Peabody.
