Jim and Diana Agnihotri are back in England, and immediately embroiled in a mystery involving Diana' brother Adi.

Nev March is a great story-teller, and this is an interesting mystery with a wide-ranging variety of characters. I'm delighted that Jim and Diana are back in the midst of family and friends in India. March does a wonderful job of bringing the setting to life.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Silversmith's Puzzle is the fourth book in a series by author Nev March featuring Capt. Jim Agnihotri and Lady Diana Framji. All four of her books take place in last part of the 19th century. Her first book, Murder In Old Bombay, as well as this latest one are set in British Colonial India.

I was so glad to see these characters return to this locale since the author did such a masterful job in her first book of bringing it to life. As this new book starts Jim and Diana have just arrived in Liverpool where they have been met by Adi, Diana's twin brother, and Jim's great friend. Soon after their meeting Adi he informs them that he is being investigated for the Murder of his business partner Sayta. Besides coming to Liverpool to meet them he has also used this as an opportunity to flee the authorities before they arrest him.

After hearing Adi's story of what happened Jim and Diana know that he is not guilty of the crime and together the three board a ship back to Bombay to prove he is innocent. Once back in India March does a wonderful job of taking us through the crime through Jim's investigation and interviews of various witnesses. The mystery of who killed Sayta, when it is finally revealed, while satisfying is also tinged with sadness. Now that the main characters are back in India I hope the author can keep them there awhile longer with a new mystery or two to solve.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Nev March for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Silversmith's Puzzle coming out May 13, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is a series I’ve been wanting to check out. I haven’t read the other books yet. I think the characters are so smart. I really love the murder mystery aspect. I think it was an adventurous plot. I definitely want to check out more books in the series.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical murder mysteries!

The fourth book in the incredibly immersive "Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries" series, this novel kept me turning the pages into the early hours of the morning to see what was going to happen next, and to find out whodunit. Delving into different cultures, mystery, exploring who can and can't be trusted, family, and so much more, Captain Jim and Lady Diana work quickly to prove Lady Diana's brother is innocent of the crime. What happens? You will just have to read to find out!

I highly recommend this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the e-ARC of this novel! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

In the 4th book in this historical mystery series set in the 1890s, Captain Jim and Lady Diana return to Bombay to help prove her brother Adi innocent of murdering his business partner. The culture and caste system of India in this era under British rule lend so much color and interest to the story. The characters are delightful--such a warm and wonderful family. The murder mystery and a subplot are both very intriguing; I had no clue how it would all be resolved. I will definitely look forward to more to come in this series.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new mystery via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

The Silversmith’s Puzzle

A Mystery

By: Nev March

Book 4 of Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries

Publish Date: May 13, 2025

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books

Historical Fiction/Mystery and Thrillers/Own Voices

200 Book ReviewsProfessional Reader

I would like to thank both NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur books for allowing me to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.

Book Review:

I have been lucky enough to have been able to read and review every book in this series. This book is the continuation of Captain Jim and Lady Diana’s adventures together as a married couple. I gave this book 4 stars. In this book they return back to India because Diana’s brother is in trouble. He is the number one suspect of the murder of his business partner. There are some twists and turns as well as secrets in this story. Diana is excited to be back home but also upset because she and her family are being shunned because Jim isn’t from there or have the same religious beliefs. However, Diana wouldn’t change anything she or her family has done and in fact she thinks Jim has proved himself. Adi, (Dianas brother), is beside himself with worry about what has happened. Jim has many leads but nothing solid to help him. He goes undercover but isn’t able to figure out who killed his partner and things are leading back to Adi or surprising enough to a member of the family. What will happen if he can’t find the true murder? Will Diana leave him because he is unable to help or from the pressures of the community? You will have to read the book to find out. I do love the support of the family for each other and the love they have.

Another great mystery in this series. Jim and Diana have gone back to India to help Adi. He has been accused of murder. They both know that he could not have committed murder, so they are glad to help. As Jim investigates, Diana is pretty much shunned by people she has known all her life. Jim knows that he had to pay a price for marrying him, but he isn't sure it is worth it to her. Jim will do anything for Diana's family, so he does whatever it takes to find the person who murdered Adi's business partner. He even puts himself in danger. He does discover that there is someone behind the scenes pulling strings but is having a hard time finding that person. Will Jim and Diana stay in India or go back to Boston?

Historical mysteries are my most favorite genre to read, so when I am introduced to a new author or series, it feels like a gift. And that is just how I felt when I read The Silversmith’s Puzzle, book four in Nev March’s Captain Jim and Lady Diana mystery series. While this is the first I’ve read in this series, my library has books one through three available as audiobooks so I’ve added those to my queue. I need Captain Jim and Lady Diana’s origin story!

It’s 1894, and Lady Diana Framji and Captain Jim Agnihotri are called back to India to help Lady Diana’s brother Adi, who has been accused of murder. This isn’t an easy trip back for both as the traditional Parsi community finds Jim and Diana’s marriage taboo and shuns them. How will they ever be able to investigate a murder under these complex conditions around caste and tradition?

What a thoughtful and well researched mystery! The details describing colonial India are fascinating and immersive. While it is clear that great care was taken with obtaining historical accuracy in the story, I was never once overwhelmed by the details. Facts and descriptions were woven into this mystery seamlessly.

The mystery around the death of Adi’s business partner was complex and given the layers of social systems and traditions Lady Diana and Captain Jim had to sort through, I found myself always pondering as I turned the pages. I’m certainly glad I wasn’t in charge of the investigation, but enjoyed being along for the ride greatly!

The relationship between Lady Diana and Captain Jim was lovely, each full of respect for the other. I enjoyed getting to see Lady Diana’s family as well.

And of course no spoilers here, but the ending was simply wonderful and artfully composed. Fans of historical mysteries should not hesitate to grab this, but if you’re like me, let’s be sure to catch up on earlier entries as well. I know we won’t regret it.

This is the second book I've read in this series, and I feel the same way about this one as I did the other - it's a good story, but the telling is a bit uneven and bogged down by unrelated information. Jim and Diana are a lovely couple, and I enjoyed the moments where they worked together to solve the mystery.

It was a good whodunit, with a twist near the end that I did not see coming. Overall, I enjoyed it, and look forward to more.

3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars

The Silversmihttps://www.instagram.com/p/DJ4mQzPPMBB/?igsh=amwzaXJjODZ2Z24zth’s Puzzle by Nev March is a mystery, my favorite, but it takes place in India. Not necessarily a problem as the mystery is a good one, but it is filled with cultural things that are new to me. Interesting, but complicated. The sleuth is a private detective called James Agnihotri, half English, half Indian. His best friend is an Indian man called Adi, who was also his brother-in-law. He and Diana were currently in England but had gotten a message from Adi. When he appeared and told his story, they contrived to get him back to India, joining him. The plan was to prove that he had not murdered his partner. He and Satya had started a business manufacturing scalpels out of solver. The problem was, his countrymen believed that English products were better and so would not buy.

Just getting Adi to India as a wanted man was a production. Then began the laborious investigation. People didn’t report what they had seen, but what they were accustomed to seeing. Satya’s last words were a conundrum. His family did not want to speak to him; they had been estranged. It all got very complicated. Thankfully, Agnihotri had some friends within the constabulary. Also he looked, very English and so people treated him differently. It was truly a mess, but they finally figured it out. He was accepted into the family after saving Adi, which made Diana and him both very happy. This was a terrific book. Lots to learn. Plenty to think about. Terrific characters, not necessarily filled with empathy as one would expect. Good read.

I was invited to read The Silversmith’s Puzzle by St Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #NevMarch #TheSilversmithsPuzzle

Definitely my favorite of the series so far! I love how immersive March's writing is, completely transporting me to a completely different place and time. Love the cultural representation.

Personally I thought Peril at the Exposition was a unique story.
I loved the mystery, characters were interesting and this story just kept me glued to the pages.
The mystery pulls you in and doesn't stop.
March outdid herself here.
I’ve enjoyed the previous titles in the Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries, but book four was so much more entertaining.

Minotaur Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Still a great romp through India, though the way the character goes about solving mysteries is starting to feel a bit pedantic, with Shakespeare and Holmes now thrown in more gratuitously than meaningfully. I loved this series for a while, but I think I've outgrown it and this will probably be my last read.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author, and it is just as enjoyable as the first. It’s way to a different time and place and totally captures you from the first page to the last.

In Nev March’s fourth novel, we have the pleasure of once again becoming immersed in the world of Captain Jim Agnihotri and Lady Diana Framji, circa 1894, as they solve another mystery together. Intertwined with the intrigue is great global history of the times, ranging from the US to England to India.
Narrated by Capt. Jim, who goes by surname O’Trey for simplicity, the story finds him helping Diana’s brother Adi, whose partner in a silver instrument factory has been killed, with Adi accused of the murder. Jim investigates, with the tenets of Sherlock Holmes always in mind. The plot is wonderfully complex and appealing to this longtime fan of mysteries and Holmes.
What elevates this series is March’s beautifully descriptive prose, providing a great sense of place and historical atmosphere. I felt at times like I was on the streets of 19th century Bombay. The tone and tenor of the prose is appropriate for the time period, with colloquialisms imbedded in the narrative.
The characters and local customs are also of the times, and, over 100 years later, it is sometimes difficult to see Jim and Diana struggle for respect due to race and/or social custom. Feisty Diana strains against the restrictions of caste and society, and ultimately they again realize why they relocated to the western world.
While this book is the fourth in a series it can be easily read as a stand-alone. Readers of intelligent mysteries and atmospheric historical fiction will enjoy this story. Its final scene has me looking forward to the next entry in this wonderful series!

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

My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for an ARC of this novel.

I’ve been a Nev Marsh fan since the first novel in her historical mystery series set in late 19th century Bombay. With Queen Victoria on the throne, India was a colony very much ruled by the British, intent on pursuing their racist ‘civilizing’ mission.

Once again, we follow the adventures of retired military officer Captain Jim Agnihotri and his beautiful Parsi wife Diana Framji. For those new to the series, the Captain is of mixed heritage, his mother Indian and his unknown father British; he was raised in a Catholic orphanage. Diana is the daughter of a wealthy Parsi exporter and entrepreneur. Highly intelligent and intrepid, she has greatly offended the exclusive Parsi community by marrying an ‘outsider.’ Having lived a few years in Boston, where Jim works for a famous detective agency, the couple has been summoned back to Bombay to help Diana’s brother Adi. The three are very close, and Adi is in serious trouble. His business partner —the silversmith of the title—was murdered, dying in his arms and, according to the British police, presumably guilty. It appears that he was involved in a number of nefarious undertakings that leave the upright, law abiding Adi implicated and supposedly motivated to kill him.

The Captain and Lady Diana, as they are known, truly have a puzzle to solve, which sees Jim once again modelling the multi-disguise strategies of his literary hero, Sherlock Holmes. Diana is able to assist him with her inside knowledge of Bombay society, its clans, castes and customs. The couple also has to deal with her father’s business losses, that have forced him to seek financial assistance from community members. But the Parsis have more or less shunned the family since Diana’s marriage, adding to the overall tension.

Born in India to a Parsi family herself, the author writes a fascinating and culturally nuanced story. Its varied settings include the bustling city streets and markets, the slums, brothels and prisons, the temples, and factories and banks, the mansions of the privileged, both Indian and British. Her novels invoke the scents and sounds of India, the importance of family, the carefully delimited interactions between castes—and almost literally the taste of the splendid meals of their custom. I was struck, again, by the complex social structure of Victorian India, where more than 150 dialects are spoken and identity is defined by a multitude of variables—gender, age, class, caste, religion, skin colour trade and profession, history. Marsh’s detailed epilogue provides more fascinating explanation. Her writing is lucid and often humorous. Although long and rather involved, this is a five-star reading experience whether you are new to the series or a devoted follower.

When I was invited by Minotaur Press to read Nev March’s latest book, The Silversmith’s Puzzle, I did not hesitate. In the fourth book of this series, Captain Jim and Lady Diana return to India to help Adi, Diana’s brother. Adi is accused of killing his business partner. While Jim knows that Adi can’t have killed the man, Adi and other people are keeping secrets.
The quality of Nev March’s writing is superb. Her historical research is impeccable. She continues to show how difficult it would have been for Jim and Diana to thrive as a married couple from very diverse backgrounds.
The author has a deft hand in weaving real life events into the protagonists’ lives without hitting us over the head with this.
I gave this book 5 stars. While the author does not leave us without resolving the central mystery, she does leave us with a couple things unresolved. I certainly hope that they don’t leave us hanging! I look forward to the next installment of this series

Nev March’s incomparable Captain Jim and Lady Diana return to India!

As always I’m absolutely consumed with Captain Jim Agnihotri and his wife Diana. I’m so glad they’ve returned to India—a breath taking, colorful and magical place, along with its squalor, religious differences, underlying tensions and gathering troubles for the colonial British.
Diana’s parsi family welcomes them. Diana’s parsi friends and acquaintance? No! Jim and Diana are beyond the tight knit community’s social pale. Jim hurts to see his wife treated so. Diana walks through it all, sad but unrepentant for having married outside the circle. (I love how they relate with each other)
However that’s not their main concern. Adi, Diana’s brother, has been arrested for the murder of his friend and business partner Satya Rastogi. Satya was the scion of a powerful parsi family who are jewellers.
What Jim and Diana will uncover is theft, corruption, murder, and stolen gold.
The path to the truth is behind veiled references and clouded by secrecy. Even when the shocking facts are revealed we are left with the idea of a malignant force behind all that’s happened. Jim’s hero Sherlock Holmes is referred to constantly leaving us to wonder who is Jim’s Professor Moriarty?
Family is important to Jim. He has none. His quest for who his father might be never Leaves him.
Returning to India prompts Jim’s earliest memories, increasing his wondering about who his father is.
An action packed, fabulous read!

A Minotaur Books ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

I loved, loved, loved the first book in this series, Murder in Old Bombay. In that first book, the main characters, Captain Jim Agnihotri and Lady Diana Framji, meet and marry despite some pretty steep obstacles. Jim is half white, half Indian, and he is not a Parsi, as Lady Diana is. The Parsis, the aristocrats of Indian culture in the 1890’s, have very strict rules about marrying outside the faith. This creates problems for the couple.
Jim, a dashing and decorated Captain in the British army, has worked as a journalist and a private investigator for the Framji family. He met the Framjis when he searched for the killer of Diana’s sister-in-law. In this novel, it’s her widower, Diana’s brother Adi, who is in trouble. The two novels in between this one and the first found Diana and Jim in Boston and Chicago and on a steamship crossing the ocean. Those novels, which were fine traditional mysteries, nevertheless lacked the zip and life of the first novel. As the Agnihotris return to India, however, life returns to this wonderful series.

Adi is in serious trouble. His business partner has been murdered and he’s the most likely suspect. The two of them had been manufacturing surgical instruments but were having a tough go selling them as they are made in India. Doctors seem to want instruments made in the UK. Not only is the business partner dead but the business is struggling, and it turns out that the man had borrowed all kinds of money as well as cleaning out Adi’s bank account before he died.

Additionally, the Framjis, while delighted to have Diana and Jim home again, are finding themselves shunned, both because of Adi’s situation and because of Diana and Jim’s marriage. Jim, who feels responsible for the family’s plight and worries about his wife’s pain, wants nothing more than to save Adi and discover the true killer. This is made far more difficult and time imperative when Adi is actually arrested and taken to jail.
Jim operates on his knowledge of Adi’s character and calls on the various connections he’s made in Bombay – through the army, the police, and from his brief stint as a journalist. March, a devotee of Holmes (as is Jim), has created a series that relies, as Doyle’s creation did, on deduction, and also includes Sherlock’s love of disguise and adventure. Jim is having little success until he mobilizes the entire Framji family in his endeavour, finding a team works better than he could alone.

The disguises, tricky connections, and well laid out mystery are a delight, but what brings the book to life are not only the personalities of Jim and Diana (and her family) but the city of Bombay, which serves as a character as well. One way of armchair travel is of course geographical, but another way, in the hands of a gifted writer, is virtual time travel. When reading this novel you can feel you are back in old Bombay, a city on the cusp of independence from the British, a city with arcane connections between classes that make everything function.

The mystery here is excellent and if March takes a minute to unfold her tale, be assured it’s well worth it. She’s a master storyteller. I am hoping she keeps her couple in Bombay, as they still have a few issues to resolve, issues which add resonance and depth to this wonderful series. If you’re up for a bit of time travel coupled with a great story, pick this one up.

I thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advance reader copy of “The Silversmith’s Puzzle.” All opinions and comments are my own.

A return to home should have brought happy feelings to Captain Jim Angihotri and his wife Lady Diana; instead, in “The Silversmith’s Puzzle” they will be faced with the family fortune disappearing, being ostracized by society (because of their marriage), and, worst of all, Diana’s brother Adi accused of killing his business partner. Not the welcome anyone would want for a visit to Bombay.

But Jim, or as he is known in America, James Agney/O’Trey, is a very good detective, and though he may be in another country, the rules of deduction still apply. It will be difficult, and a long and strange trip it is (with lots of twists and turns along the way). The “powers that be” would like nothing better than to make it all go away, but our Anglo-Indian detective has other plans. The result is a tale of betrayal, deception, and eventually, the consequences of love, whereby some bad people are finally ferreted out, and the truth discovered.

Within the pages, besides the murder investigation, author Nev March weaves a fascinating tale of Parsi customs, Indian traditions and culture and of course British influence on the country. The strength of her writing in making the setting, plot and characterization come alive is evident on every page. “The Silversmith’s Puzzle” is a fascinating look at a faraway civilization and a puzzling mystery at the same time, especially enjoyable for historical mystery fans.