Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the free Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for my honest opinion. While I was disappointed in the second installment of this series, this one gets five stars from me.

In this third installment, Captain Jim and Lady Diana are on their way to England on a transatlantic voyage. Nev March has placed the action in the summer of 1894. The narration is from Jim’s point of view. This is a plus in my opinion.

Lots of mysterious things happen while they are on their way to England. It is basically a locked room mystery since they are on a boat and the suspects are limited. Jim and Diana encounter a murder, a suicide, and missing jewels.

While this is the third one in the series, you could start here although I would recommend that you go back to the beginning. The attention to the historical details is fantastic. I highly recommend this book.

This series has been a bit up and down, and this is closer to the first book than the second. It’s not a bad story, but it’s overlong and drags badly in parts.

I really liked the second book in the series, which had far better pacing and a richer sense of place. This one felt like a bit of a regression on both counts, if still a good mystery worth reading.

I was hoping for more atmosphere, particularly with the ship setting, which is among my favorites for a historical mystery. Here the setting works well in a technical sense, but doesn’t feel particularly immersive.

Jim and Diana remain wonderful, though sometimes Jim’s bumbling tendency to falsely accuse a number of people before getting it right grates on the reader. There is also some content included that doesn’t relate to the central mystery touching on rape and miscarriage that might upset some readers and while it was by no means badly handled, it felt very out of place in a book like this.

This was a pleasant surprise. Captain Jim is looking for a way to reconnect with his wife, whom he has felt distanced from recently, so he booked a transatlantic voyage for them to visit her family in England. The time alone, without any mysteries to solve, is a recipe for a reconciliation, he hopes. Yet when a distinguished gentleman who graciously helped him while he was sick on the deck the day earlier sends a message to come immediately to his quarters, he is surprised. Worse yet, the porter admits it was a delayed delivery. He finds that the Spanish gentleman is murdered, and the ship's captain is only too happy to leave the investigation in Jim's hands, thus keeping him and his staff clean.

This was a twisty addition to the series. I enjoyed the mystery with the complicating factors of class and diplomatic protocol as the Spanish man was a cousin to the King of Spain and a diplomat, thereby complicating the rules of engagement for the investigation. And the mystery surrounding why his wife was pulling away was well written, as well.

Taking place during a transatlantic steamship crossing in the late 1800's this cozy-style mystery has the feel of an Agatha Christie novel and there are numerous references to Sherlock Holmes. I have not read the first two books in the series so I can confirm that this book is enjoyable as a stand-alone. There are many issues touched on here including race, class, and politics - fascism and war brutality. But the main focus of the story, is a murder of a Spanish Diplomat early in the voyage, and the ensuing investigation that the ship's captain assigns to Jim Agnihotri and his wife Lady Diana Framji. Captain Jim is a private investigator and works diligently for the rest of the voyage to find the killer. I loved the descriptions of daily life on board, as well as the interaction of passengers. The characters were well crafted. However, I felt that this book dragged on and would have benefitted from better editing. The plot was dense, secrets were constantly being revealed and every time Jim (and the reader) felt like things were falling into place another layer would be revealed and the plot would become more complicated. For me, this got in the way of telling a good mystery story.

The Spanish Diplomat's Secret is the third book in the Captain Jim and Lady Diana historical mystery series by Nev March. Released 12th Sept 2023 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out from the same publisher in Aug 2024. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout.

This is a very well written and engaging historical mystery. The titular protagonist, Captain Jim Agnihotri, is a half English, half Indian officer and investigator who leaves India to take up a job in America with his young wife. He deals with racism because of his upbringing and skin color as well as being an Englishman in the US.

The relationship between Jim and his wife Diana is refreshingly honest (and modern). She's intelligent and headstrong, if naive. Both of them have a distinct honesty that's refreshing to read. The mystery is well constructed and the prose is nuanced and enjoyable. The action moves the plot along quickly and the denouement and resolution are satisfying and fair play. There are some sweetly romantic moments as well as inevitable moments of melancholy and misunderstanding between the (married) protagonists, but it's all euphemistically described and effectively described. The author has an impressive command of dialogue and the writing is immersive and full of period verisimilitude.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 12 hours 1 minute and is beautifully narrated by Vikas Adam. He has a classically trained, clear, and well modulated voice and manages a number of accents (including "foreign" accents), and a range of ages, and both sexes, without a hitch. He has a pleasantly neutral voice which made the read seamless and unobtrusive. Sound and production quality were high throughout.

Four stars. Recommended for public library acquisition and home use. With three volumes extant in the series, it would make a good choice for a binge/buddy read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

Captain Jim Agnihotri and his wife Lady Diana Framji are embarking to England in the summer of 1894. Jim is hopeful the cruise will help Diana open up to him. Something is troubling her, and Jim is concerned.
On their first evening, Jim meets an intriguing Spaniard, a fellow soldier with whom he finds an instant kinship. But within twenty-four hours, Don Juan Nepomuceno is murdered, his body discovered shortly after he asks rather urgently to see Jim.

I enjoyed the first book in this series more than this one, but I do love seeing the evolving relationship of Jim and Diana. They are a prefect fit to me. I have also enjoyed the history aspect of the story more than the murder mystery in this one. It is a closed door murder mystery and I think I am jaded and to me no one can do that better than Agatha Christie.

Overall this was an enjoyable read but I am not sure that I am going to continue on with the series.

Another great one from this author! Book 3 did not disappoint. As always Nev has an intriguing way of weaving mystery with historical background.

I loved this novel from the very beginning. It was a un put downable novel.
The mystery was just simply awesome and I loved that it took place aboard a ship. I love anything that takes place aboard ships. It's the only way I can take a cruise or a trip!
I could generally guess who it already was before the end but I always like to finish a book to see if I'm right.
This novel also reminds me of a modern day game called The Escape Room. It also reminds of a movie called 1894.
The way this author describes everything! I definitely felt like I was there!
I really appreciated how Jim made his Lady Diana feel special in their relationship. I'm almost jealous lol.
My most favorite part is the historical descriptions. I learned much from this author's research. Who by the way has done very well with it.
I'm giving this exciting adventure 5 stars. I loved being swept away into a novel like this one and I appreciated the Shakespeare that was scattered throughout this novel as well.
I highly recommend it.
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is the third book in a series, which I have not read. Given that, I felt a little lost at times as I did not understand the main characters connection, or the events that led them to their current situation,

Aside from that, I found this story to be mostly entertaining. It was a bit uneven - too much of a fixation on the main male character's sea sickness and self-doubt - but overall it was a good whodunit. Yes, I had the who and why figured out well before the ending, but I enjoyed the 'getting there'. While I had my issues with the characters, I liked them enough to want to go back and start at the beginning.

I think this has potential to be a fun and interesting series, and look forward to diving further into this world.

In The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret, Jim and Diana are on a transatlantic voyage to England. When a murder happens on board, Jim is asked to investigate.

I thought the mystery in this book was a little easier to figure out than the others in the series. The setting also felt a little claustrophobic to me, probably because it was a locked-room mystery set on a ship the entire time.

I did still enjoy Diana and Jim’s interactions and the sweet way that he idolizes her. They are no longer newlyweds and have some secrets and issues to work out.

Jim & his wife Diana are returning via stramship to Europe after a stay in America. Within 24 hours, a Spanish gentleman is murdered on board. Learning of Jim's success as an investigator, the captain pleads with him to solve the crime before they dock in Liverpool. The Don's murder isn't the only mystery to be solved, and along with his wife Diana, uncover many mysteries among the passengers and crew. There are many red herrings as Jim employs the techniques of his hero Sherlock Holmes. There are so many it seemed to me that he was blundering through without plan or purpose.

What I most enjoyed was the historical perspective. I had no idea about the events that led up to the Spanish-American War, so I was I scored to read more about the events.

Third in the series, I previously read #1 but missed #2. That did not impact my enjoyment of #3 although I liked #1 better.

A locked room mystery with plenty of suspects snd red herrings. Enjoyable.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion

A husband and wife team investiagte murder and mayhem on the high seas. While on a cruise to "get away" from their everyday sameness, they will use every trick in the Sherlock Holmes handbook until the killer is caught.

The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret by Nev March is the third novel in the delightful mystery series featuring Captain James Agnihotri, lately of the British Indian Army, circa 1894. He is now enjoying a successful career as a private detective in Boston, in which role he can use the deductive method of solving mysteries just like the detective he most admires—Sherlock Holmes.
Captain Jim, as he is known, and his lovely wife Diana, are enjoying a transatlantic cruise on the luxury steamship HMS Etruria. When a Spanish ambassador to the United States is found garroted in the locked music room, the ship’s captain begs Captain Jim to investigate, so as to avoid an international incident which would fan the flames of the ongoing Spanish conflict in Europe and the revolt in Cuba.
The ship provides the perfect “locked room” setting, and there are plenty of suspects among the hundreds of passengers and crew. Jim approaches the investigation from a logical, scientific aspect, while Diana assists with astute intuitive insight and social awareness.
The tale is told in first person by Jim, with a sophisticated plot and several twists that kept me engaged in the whodunit until the Final Solution.
The author is skillful at providing the perspective of the political unrest among the European anarchists. There are pithy observations of the social mores of the passengers, both privileged and working class.
The writing is rich with wonderful attention to detail and many clever turns of phrase, such as “her contempt had a fine vintage.” There are many references to Sherlock Holmes and his adventures which will satisfy fans of that classic character.
This novel is very enjoyable and I recommend it to the readers who look for smartly written, somewhat cozy mysteries with nuanced descriptive writing, historical accuracy and well-drawn characters.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the ARC. This is my honest review.

When an important Spanish diplomat is brutally murdered on a steamship from the US to the UK, the captain is desparate for someone to help him solve it before they reach the shore. On board is Captain Jim, an Indian ex-pat detective and his clever wife. They swoop into action interviewing passengers and trying desparately to put together the puzzle pieces

I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. I almost gave up on it a few times. I'm not sure whether it was the characters or just the pace. I forced myself through and found myself interested by the culprit but not enough I'd go out of my way to recommend this one. I actually felt the red herrings would have been more interesting if they had panned out.

Thanks to St Martins Press for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

Captain Jim Agnihotri and his wife Lady Diana Framji begin what they're hoping will be a calm crossing of the Atlantic with Jim being super seasick and the mysterious, locked-door murder of the very important Spanish diplomat. Jim gets pulled into the investigation by virtue of having spoken briefly with the diplomat and the ship's captain deciding to hand the ropes over to him.
It's a very complicated web of connections and misdirection that will take both Jim and Diana to solve before they arrive on land and the murderer has a chance to escape. It also gives them a chance to truly talk about their feelings and what they want out of their marriage. The calm interludes while the couple are mostly talking about their lives were some of my favorites in the novel.
It's a very interesting story from the get-go, but it makes the assumption that you're fully caught up on everything the characters have been through and so there are a couple of instances where I found it confusing. It's not enough to render it unenjoyable, just a little annoying. So be warned that it might be a good idea to read previous volumes first.

Very entertained thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the great read!

This was book three in the Captain Jim and Lady Diana series, and it was a nice addition. I enjoyed it and found it very interesting. The mystery kept me guessing all the way through, and I enjoyed the dynamics between Jim and Diana in this book. It was really the first book that they were together for the entirety of it.

I love that it all took place aboard a ship. It was a fantastic concept for a locked door mystery.

I look forward to more to come from Jim and Diana.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret by Nev March

Private investigator and retired army captain Jim Agnihotri is crossing the Atlantic once more with the lovely Lady Diana Framji, now his bride of nearly two years. He hasn’t been one hundred percent transparent with her about why they’re heading from their home in Boston to Liverpool this summer of 1894, but he’s hoping that the real reason will end up being a nice surprise. After all, she’s clearly been keeping something from him too, a secret that’s been casting a pall over her ordinarily sunny demeanor:

QUOTE
Something had felt off-kilter when I got back from my last assignment. I’d returned to Diana’s usual welcome, her relief to see me intact. She’d smiled and said all the right things, but the shadows around her eyes told me she’d not had an easy time of it. Only when I shed my tramping guise and thoroughly cleaned up did she bend. She’d discarded my filthy clothing with the stern look of a quartermaster examining a broken rifle. But that was all right. So why did I hear her stifled crying that night? She’d insisted it was nothing, but I knew there was more. Why had she been so unhappy?
END QUOTE

Respectful of her privacy but determined to restore her to happiness, Jim has booked them first-class tickets on a transatlantic crossing. He has not, however, bargained for a severe case of seasickness waylaying him on their very first evening at sea, while they’re supposed to be enjoying a ball thrown for the benefit of the first-class passengers. An older Spanish gentleman recognizes him as a fellow former soldier, and kindly assists him at the railing.

Once Diana figures out the reason for Jim’s absence from the ballroom, she comes out to check on him and take over ministering to his needs. Sea voyages, they must ruefully conclude despite their best efforts, do not agree with his constitution. It’s looking to be a long eight-day journey for them aboard the HMS Etruria, even before the Spanish gentleman who helped Jim is found strangled to death in the ship’s music room the next afternoon.

In life, Don Juan Nepomuceno had been the governor of a Spanish province. More importantly, he was a relative of the young Spanish king. His murder on a British ship could set off a political firestorm or worse, given the two nation’s strained ties. When the Etruria’s Captain Hawley discovers that Jim is a detective attached to a well-known American agency, he immediately requests that Jim take over the investigation. The last thing Captain Hawley needs is for claims of bias to arise from entrusting the investigation to his British crew.

As Jim tries to establish why anyone would want to kill the gruff but helpful older man, he discovers far more about the don than he’d ever suspected. Much of what he learns makes him begin to question his own actions when he was a soldier:

QUOTE
You’re a fine one to consider this, Agnihotri, I grumbled as I staggered toward our stateroom. I’d taken part in innumerable military actions in North India. After the carnage in Maiwand, my company had been ordered to attack. Few could repel a coordinated onslaught from a professional army. In weeks we’d beaten the emir into signing a treaty.

I’d been proud to stand for the British Indian army. Now I recalled the glowering faces of tribesman as we rode past, read their sullen impotence. Was I upholding the law, then? I’d been so certain before.
END QUOTE

Jim must relentlessly ask questions, not only of himself but of the richest and most powerful in first class, their servants, and the highest and lowest of the crew, if he’s to have any hope of solving this case before the ship docks in Liverpool. In this he’s ably and gamely assisted by Diana, whose perspectives differ just enough from his own to make her observations invaluable. No murderer could possibly outwit the both of them combined… but what if the killer they’re seeking is no mere mortal? As rumors of ghosts and monsters sweep across the Etruria, Jim and Diana must race against time to figure out whodunnit before the locked room strangler can claim another victim.

Shipboard murder mysteries always require a tight, well-organized timeline, which Nev March constructs here with aplomb. Jim and Diana face a formidable challenge in recreating the movements of the suspects the day the don was murdered. I enjoyed puzzling that out with them, even as I seemed to have a much easier time getting to the meaning of seemingly insignificant interactions and reports than Jim did. I did occasionally wonder whether he was written as a bit of a dullard in order to either enhance Diana’s wit by comparison, or to misdirect the gullible reader into making the same wrong assumptions he did. Any exasperation I had with his naivete quickly melted, however, in the face of his genuine concern for his charming spouse. It’s always delightful to encounter a crime-fighting partnership, fictional or otherwise, that’s just as strong in affection and mutual respect as it is in working together to see justice served.

In this 3rd book in the 'Captain Jim Agnihotri' historical mystery series, private detective Jim Agnihotri and his wife Diana search for a killer on a transatlantic passenger ship. The book works as a standalone but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.

*****

After serving in the British army in India, Anglo-Indian Captain Jim Agnihotri became interested in being a private detective, like his fictional idol Sherlock Holmes.

Now Agnihotri and his 22-year-old Persian-Indian wife Diana live in Boston, Massachusetts, and - due to a bureaucratic glitch on the couple's journey to America - Jim is now officially called James Agney O'Trey and his wife is Diana O'Trey.

As the story opens, it's 1894, Jim and Diana are on board His Majesty's Ship Etruria, traveling from Boston to London. Diana has packed all the elegant clothing she and Jim need for the trip, since first-class passengers dress up for meals, dances, and other activities.

Unfortunately for Jim, he has no sea-legs, and on the first evening of the voyage - while Diana is dancing in the ballroom - Jim is being sick over the side of the ship. An older Spanish gentleman, who has the bearing of a soldier, helps Jim sit down, and the two men have a brief conversation.

The next day, Jim receives a short note that reads, "Attend me immediamente" and it's signed J. Nepomuceno. Jim consults a steward to get the cabin number for J. Nepomuceno, and hurries off to assist the gentleman. Regrettably, Jim is too late. Don Juan Nepomuceno - whom Jim met the evening before - has been murdered in the ship's music room.

The Etruria's skipper, Captain Hawley, knows that Jim is a private detective, and asks him to investigate the killing. The Captain explains that Nepomuceno is related to the king of Spain, and if the killer isn't found before the ship docks in Liverpool, a diplomatic incident will be triggered. This gives Jim a week to find the murderer.

Jim proceeds to interview the passengers and crew, concentrating on people who claim to have seen Nepomuceno around the time of the murder. Jim is told that a nurse. or someone dressed like a nurse, was on deck with Nepomuceno. However, Jim can't identify the nurse in question, and everyone Jim questions seems to be lying or withholding information.

Jim interviews the same people again and again, day after day, but he can't seem to make headway with the investigation. Jim is hampered even more by Captain Hawley's edict that first class passengers are above suspicion and not to be disturbed. So Jim isn't permitted to press them or search their quarters.

Moreover, Jim's Anglo-Indian military background means he doesn't fit in with the ship's upper crust passengers. Luckily, Jim's wife Diana, who's beautiful, refined, and sophisticated, blends in with the rich folks, and she's able to help Jim search for the killer.

In addition to Nepomuceno's murder, other incidents add to the disturbing atmosphere on the Etruria. There's a 'man overboard' occurrence; someone is assaulted; a passenger seems to go missing; and - according to some observers - there are ghosts aboard the ship.

Regrettably, I found Jim's continuous questioning of the passengers and crew to be extremely tedious. There are too many characters to remember; I got confused about who said what; and the story meanders VERY slowly rather than going full steam ahead. For me, this is a major flaw in the plot.

On the bright side, it's interesting to read about the configuration of the luxury liner; the stylish clothing of the wealthy passengers (we don't meet anyone in steerage in this novel); and the activities aboard ship, like music, dancing, quoits, shuffleboard, croquet, dining, etc. I also like the occasional references to Sherlock Holmes stories, which provide clues for Jim's investigation.

For history buffs, there are also references to the Spanish Civil War and to Spain's control of Cuba, which caused quite a ruckus at the time.

Of the three books in the series, my favorite is the first, 'Murder in Old Bombay.'

Thanks to Netgalley, Nev March, and Minotaur books for a copy of the manuscript.

"The room is locked. How did the killer get out?"

And the room is on a ship in the middle of the ocean! A killer is definitely among the passengers in the intriguing historical fiction murder mystery The Spanish Diplomat's Secret by versatile mystery author Nev March.

It's the summer of 1894 and Captain Jim and Lady Diana are on an ocean liner heading to England. It should be relaxing, a time to spend in love with each other but alas, Captain Jim spends most of the time seasick hanging over the ship's railing. During one of these railing incidents a kind elderly man offers him some help. Soon they are trading soldier stories and Jim has a new friend in Don Juan Nepomuceno. Sadly, 24 hours later the Spanish diplomat is dead and Jim has six days before they dock to find the killer to avoid an international incident. You see Don Juan had a doozy of a secret; it involves Spain's civil war and Cuba's rebellion.

Reading this absorbing mystery was a page turner but listening to the smooth international accents from meticulous voice actor Vikas Adam brought it to a whole new level of enjoyment. Honestly, I could listen to him read a shopping list and happily drool.

Though the 3rd book in the Captain Jim and Lady Diana mystery series, it's a standalone. I highly recommend reading the first 2 books, Murder In Old Bombay(my fav)and Peril at the Exposition to enjoy the growing love between Jim and Diana. In this book when he helps her with the buttons down the back of her dress the author took a simple task and made it a beautiful moment of pure love.

A murder, an apparent suicide, and a wife hiding something makes for compelling mysterious secrets.

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.