(Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries #4)
The Silversmith's Puzzle by Nev March

I adored the character of Captain Jim Agnihotri in the first book of this series, Murder in Old Bombay. That book focused on Jim and his experiences, past and present, and gave us the story from his POV. The two books that follow continue Jim's story although his wife Diana plays a huge part in those two books and I wanted the series to go back to putting Jim in the forefront of the stories. I'm so pleased with this fourth book in the series that once again allows us to see life from Jim's POV. This is the series going back to what I loved so much in the first book and I want the author to know how much I appreciate the approach she took in the first book and this fourth book.

What I enjoy about this book (and the first one) is that we are back in Bombay again, with Diana's family. Now Diana must face the traditional Parsi community shunning her for her marriage to Jim but the two didn't hesitate to come back to Diana's home because her brother, Adi, needs their support and help. Adi's business partner was murdered and for many reasons Adi is being suspected of his murder. Things look bad for Adi but Jim knows Adi would never kill anyone and Jim's going to use all his skills to find out who really killed the business partner.

Jim loves the stories of Sherlock Holmes and he's often quoting Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He has used what he's learned from those stories to help him solve crimes in the past. This is one of the features I enjoy so much from the first book, too, Jim's utilization of what he has read to help him through life. He may have come from an extremely poor background but he was/is always willing to learn and continues to study and make good use of his education. This is a man who has not let his background keep him down but who also has not forgotten where he came from and that others like him need support and compassion to survive.

Diana, his wife, grew up affluent and able to have anything that a young woman of her status was allowed. She's as smart and clever as Jim and they make a great pair. Now her family is struggling financially as they've lost so much in the global financial slump and that's just one more thing putting her brother in the crosshairs of the justice system. The family's financial crisis it allowing others to give Adi a motive to kill his business partner and things do not look good for Adi or the family.

It looks to me like there will be more of Jim (and those important to him) and I look forward to additions to this series. Don't miss the author's notes because they are so interesting when it comes to this series, how she came to write it, what's based on real events, what might have been changed. All that information adds to my enjoyment of this world and characters she has created.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a fantastically done mystery novel, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed getting back into this world. The concept had everything that I was looking for and enjoyed the time-period in this universe. Nev March has a strong writing style and was hooked from the first page, it continued the story from the previous three books.