Exhilarating New 1920s India Mystery from Sujata Massey, THE BOMBAY PRINCE

Half the fun of of reading really good historical fiction is the pain-free way a book can take you into another time, "experiencing" the differences almost as if you were there. International fiction offers the same advantage in terms of location instead of time travel.

So in the third "Mystery of 1920s India" from Sujata Massey, THE BOMBAY PRINCE, you get double the delight in one smoothly written adventure.

Plus, Massey's protagonist, female lawyer Perveen Mistry, is breaking barriers for the women of her time, the first in her career in Bombay. She's compassionate, smart, and rarely makes mistakes in judgment. That means a Massey mystery can focus on crime and detection, instead of on rescuing the amateur sleuth.

It's November 1921 as THE BOMBAY PRINCE opens, and an independence movement is roiling India's political landscape. Long ruled from afar by Great Britain, India's people have paid the usual prices of the colonized: marginalizing minorities (like the Parsi culture that Perveen Mistry has grown up with), skimming revenue, and refusing to let the national leaders actually lead. A visit from the Prince of Wales fans the flames of Gandhi's otherwise peace-centered movement, street protests break out, even shop looting, and Perveen struggles to get appropriate treatment for the body of a murdered Parsi college student, Freny, who'd recently sought Perveen's legal advice. The timing puts Perveen herself into danger—it's easy for men around her to assume that a woman walking alone out in the city is asking for the worst kind of trouble, and impossible for them to see her as a professional, or worth respecting at all. When she tries to stop the looting of a shop where she knows the staff, she becomes a target, attacked with both scorn and sexual threat.

Fortunately for Perveen, some Parsi men spot the trouble and tackle her assailants, telling her to run, and she actually gets a ride from a solicitor known to her family, who delivers her to the family's driver.

"You are returned, Alhamdulillah!" As Mustafa invoked thanks to Allah, his voice cracked with emotion. "Violence has swept the city ... You sari is torn. What happened?"

Perveen pulled the sari closer around her. "There were so many people. I was rushing in the street, and it must have happened then." ... All she wanted was to wash herself at home, to erase the memory of the brutal men. And hide under her own covers. ...

Mustafa's voice was firm. "Your father said on no account will you go anywhere but that hotel. And I'm coming in the car with you for protection."

What none of them could predict is that the European man who's caught Perveen's affection in an earlier book in the series might be at the same hotel. Even in her professional duties in the days ahead, what Perveen struggles to offer her family firm's legal clients puts her at further risk—especially when she probes the student's death further and begins to guess who's responsible.

Massey writes in swift, colorful scenes that sweep the action and danger along, drenched with period manners and struggles. If the dialogue is at times a bit stilted because of such formality, the pace never wavers, and Perveen's battle for self-determination is driven as powerfully as India's. 

No need to have read the earlier two books of this series (The Widows of Malabar Hill, The Satapur Moonstone)—just plunge into this new release from Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press (publication June 1). Massey's skills are strengthening with each book, and this is definitely her best yet. But if THE BOMBAY PRINCE wakes you to wanting to know more about India's modern history, you'll want the other two titles for your shelf as well. 

This promises to be a continued series well worth savoring!

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Mystery of 1920s Bombay, THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL, Sujata Massey

Newly released this week is a hot new historical mystery from Soho Crime -- one that's been widely anticipated for its colorful depiction of a blend of cultures becoming vitally important in global interactions today. Written by English-born and American-raised Sujata Massey, THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL provides a traditional mystery format within the compelling setting of a young woman trying to find her way to a law career at a time when that was nearly unheard of in India.

Happily, THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL opens with Perveen Mistry already a confident woman solicitor in her father's law firm in Bombay -- and presented with a legal puzzle that will require unraveling first a set of cultural barriers. Perveen suspects something's amiss when three women, all widows of a polygamous and prosperous Muslim client of her father's, suddenly appear to have signed over their interest in the estate of their joint husband. She wants to investigate. But the women are in purdah, that is, seclusion, and it won't be easy to reach them or to find out the truth.

From this 1921 opening, Massey takes the story back five years, to when this "modern" Parsi teen lost her half-under-the-table place at a law school in Bombay, fell in love, and abruptly married a young man from an "orthodox" Parsi family. Her excruciating struggles in this situation become the forceful background for how she develops into a problem-solving and competent adult who'll tackle an unjust situation when she discovers it.

Here's a taste of Mistry family life as Perveen argues for a chance to marry, sooner than her older brother:

Grandfather Mistry cleared his throat and said, "If a younger sister marries before her older brother, people will believe she had to marry for reasons of pregnancy. Every bead of her reputation will be sold."

"We aren't like that." Perveen struggled to keep her voice level. "And what else can I do with myself now that I am not a student, except get married?"

"The one who digs a whole falls into it," Grandfather Mistry replied dourly, and Rustom snorted.

[Perveen's mother] pressed her hands together as if she was nervous. "You were always such a dear, agreeable daughter. You appreciated what you were given, not like some others in town. How can you do this to us?"

"I didn't do anything to you! His parents have asked for a meeting. Won't you at least give them the respect they deserve by going?" she pleaded.

Count on needing the insight Perveen is gaining here, for when she attempts to unravel the mystery of the widows of Malabar Hill!

Perhaps today's best known crime fiction series set in India (in some titles; others simply deal with India as background) is Barbara Cleverly's Commander Joe Sandilands series (post World War I). But that set of titles works from the point of view of an English military man who's sympathetic but not of the culture. Massey's series, framed in a young woman's perspective and playing various cultures within India's melting pot against each other, is eye-opening and intriguing.

Well written, highly detailed, and engaging, THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL shows Massey's extensive writing experience, as well as an acute eye for human frailty and conflict. I'm glad to note from her material that there's a sequel on the way. The series is published by Soho Crime, which also publishes the Cleverly series -- I recommend both.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Stress-Free Holiday Travel: Crime Fiction from Sujata Massey and Peter Lovesey

Book shopping for the holidays? Here are two for the list, whether your intention is to gift-wrap a treat for a friend, or to build a TBR stack for yourself to hide in as the year-end "important" celebrations roll up.

Sujata Massey's India series, set after World War I, features Perveen Mistry, a young woman lawyer from Bombay struggling to find a niche for her skills in a culture and time period that bars women from full action. The first in the series was The Widows of Malabar Hill, and it involved a lot of explanation of religious groups, liberal versus orthodox leanings, and gendered roles of the period. In THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE, the second in the series, Massey relaxes this pressure and focuses instead on life in India's hill states at the time, when a prince can isolate the women and children in his family in ways that prevent any public presence for them. So Sir David Hobson-Jones recruits Perveen to travel to the very un-Westernized state of Satapur and insinuate herself among the women there, to tackle a mess that the civil service is unable to resolve.

Aong its haunting details of the terrain and the odd balancing act of British rule and local princedoms, to the dangerous emotional ride Perveen chooses for herself as she interacts with a man her own parents would clearly not approve of, the book's tension rises rapidly. Risk, deadly attacks, poisoning, and isolation in the hill country all ramp up the suspense. Although, because this is a series, there's good reason to believe Perveen will survive her investigation, she's clearly stirred up more violence, including against children, by intervening on behalf of the civil service, and a number of intense scenes and perilous moments keep open the question of how much Perveen herself will risk and lose in her work ... and who else will pay the price.

Fair warning: Although you don't need to read the first in the series before thoroughly enjoying THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE, you're likely to want to acquire it soon afterward. And, of course, leave room on the shelf for more to come. (No translation issues here, by the way; Massey was born in England and lives in Maryland, and is a very nimble storyteller.)

Peter Lovesey opens his 18th "Peter Diamond" crime novel, KILLING WITH CONFETTI,  with a prison outbreak that's soon linked to a quandary for his long-term protagonist and seasoned law enforcement officer, Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond: Diamond's superior, Deputy Chief Constable George Brace, expects him to personally supervise a highly unusual situation. Brace's son Ben is marrying his longtime girlfriend Caroline, and Diamond is to provide both security and prevention ... because the bride is the daughter of crime boss Joe Irving, and the fact that Irving is out of prison at the moment doesn't make him any less dangerous or treacherous. Plus, of course, Irving's exposure in a public wedding frame sets up crime vengeance opportunities for his enemies.

Louise Penny has called this investigator "impatient, belligerent, cunning, insightful, foul, laugh-out-loud funny." It's a good description, and Diamond will need all those character traits to sort out the mess he's been dumped into. Adding to the complex of personalities and potential crimes is the setting for the wedding: the Abbey and Roman Baths of Bath, England, an archaeological delight and a crime prevention nightmare.

If you have a friend who's still stuck in "old-fashioned" British crime fiction like Agatha Christie's books, here's a great opportunity to lure the reader into the modern century without losing the very British flavor. No need to read the earlier books before this one, as Lovesey is adept at setting a scene and moving his diverse and diverting characters into believable and intense confrontations. That said, long-time readers of the series will get the most chuckles from the humor in here. A great book for crossing generations, too—something to bear in mind if you're in a book club where the age range is wide and there are frequent disagreements about taste. You could sow holiday peace and renewal, just by handing around copies of Lovesey's latest.

Both of these are from Soho Crime, the very active mystery imprint of Soho Press.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Sujata Massey Provides Fifth India Mystery, A STAR FROM CALCUTTA, with Perveen Mistry

For the only female lawyer in Bombay in 1922, it seems every situation offers a new challenge. Can Perveen maintain her dignity in a culture that's suspicious of women in new roles? Will her father allow her to tackle important cases, or will his natural tendency to protect her always diminish her role? 

And, for those who've been following this Soho Press series that began with The Widows of Malabar Hill, will Perveen and her (very much forbidden) European heartthrob be able to keep their relationship adequately hidden?

On the monsoon-soaked morning that opens A STAR FROM CALCUTTA, Perveen's father announces that their day is already committed to a new client: Champa Films, owned by Subhas Ghoshal and his actress wife from Calcutta. Perveen quickly says, "No introduction needed! I'm familiar with his films and the Calcutta star he's married."

And it's the star that has caught Perveen's attention -- "Rochana's involved in sword fights and riding runaway horses and car chases. She's quite famous for being the best at it."

This isn't reassuring for her father, who prefers the formality of Parsi theater. But to Perveen's surprise, he already has a plan to place her as lead counsel in the case, which is about Rochana the actress. At the film studio Jamshedji tells the producer, "I will always be available, but I believe it would be more appropriate for my eminently qualified daughter to be your chief counsel."

Soon the case takes on fresh complications -- a death, a disappearance, roaming film animals (all too real), and a labor strike. Is the film company too broke to pay properly? Why has Rochana vanished? And where is the girlfriend Perveen's brought with her, who should be helping to maintain propriety in this wild compound of scantily garbed and possibly cocaine-high performers?

How will Perveen handle a court appearance, a coroner's results, and the complications of culture classes? With Massey's smooth writing and clever plot twists, this is a delightful page-turner rich with details of a nation entering global modernity ... and with the often difficult changes in expectations for women and the people who care about them.

Well paced and satisfying, with nearly 400 pages, this sequel shows Massey taking firm hold of her material and well aware of the expectations of the genre. It's a good change from the standard American legal thriller, a comfortable "read," and offers insight into the divided cultural landscape of one of today's Great Powers. More on the author, here: sujatamassey.com.  And for reviews of earlier titles in the series, click here.

 

Doubling Up on Edith Maxwell's Quaker Midwife Mysteries

Well-written historical mysteries offer the benefits of time travel, first class: With a trustworthy author who does plenty of research, diving into a "history mystery" reveals the nuances of a particular time and culture, through the eyes of a compelling character tackling risk, danger, and injustice.

That's one of the great pleasures of reading the Quaker Midwife Mystery series from Massachusetts author Edith Maxwell. Set in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in the 1880s, the books have probed class and gender, liberty for Black Americans and for women across the board, and the customs of the politically active worship units of the Quakers.

Maxwell's most recent book in this series was CHARITY'S BURDEN, released in April 2019. Protagonist Rose Carroll is a midwife who takes her religious customs with her to to family homes she visits -- addressing people by their first names, for instance, something that Quakers of her time did to indicate that all were of equal standing. As an activist on behalf of her clients, Rose confronts the inequities in their lives: poverty, abusive spouses, terribly long work hours.

In CHARITY'S BURDEN, Rose discovers, to her horror, that one of her clients may have experienced a botched abortion and died from the results. Rose certainly understands the need for family planning, and can sympathize with a woman's desire to end a pregnancy when conditions will make another birth dangerous or cruel. But she has no patience for people who knowingly injure women (pregnant or not).

So the hunt begins for who in Amesbury is quietly putting lives at risk. At the same time, while Rose collaborates with police detective Kevin Donovan (despite Donovan's new boss banning such teamwork), she longs for the chance to finally marry her own beloved David, a doctor who in fact may be of assistance in her search for justice:

It occurred to me that David might know of doctors who provided abortion services, as illegal as they were. "And I might need a bit of help from thee."

"Whatever I can do."

"We had a happy announcement here last night. Faith and Zeb are also to be wed, and it will be this First Day."

"My, so soon. You're correct, that's very happy news." He fell silent for a moment. "Did this make you wistful for our own vows, darling?"

"I confess it did."

However, since David's mother is adamantly opposed to her son marrying Rose -- her career, her values, even her clothing are not what's expected for such a marriage -- Rose's efforts to take care of her clients and stop the illegal procedures costing them health and even life may cost her dearly.

Series readers get an extra treat with the Quaker Midwife series this year: Mystery publisher Midnight Ink, which brought CHARITY'S BURDEN and the three earlier books of this series to print, has closed its doors. So the next in the Quaker Midwife series, JUDGE THEE NOT (involving a false accusation, class bias, a pregnant woman who's blind, and more) is coming out from Beyond the Page Publishing ... not next year, but next week!

So order both books through your local store or online retailer, and enjoy the double treat. Not much "on-stage violence" in these books, but wonderful information (instilled the way Barbara Cleverly brings us England between the wars, or Sujata Massey offers India of the 1920s) and a capable and loving sleuth -- well worth adding to the TBR stack and then the "read it again soon" shelves.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.