The Perveen Mistry Novels by Sujata Massey

 

Perveen Mistry, the daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father's law firm, becoming one of the first female lawyers in India. Armed with a legal education from Oxford, Perveen also has a tragic personal history that makes women's legal rights especially important to her. Mistry Law has been appointed to execute the will of Mr. Omar Farid, a wealthy Muslim mill owner who has left three widows behind. But as Perveen examines the paperwork, she notices something strange: all three of the wives have signed over their full inheritance to a charity. What will they live on? Perveen is suspicious, especially since one of the widows has signed her form with an X—meaning she probably couldn't even read the document. The Farid widows live in full purdah—in strict seclusion, never leaving the women's quarters or speaking to any men. Are they being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous guardian? Perveen tries to investigate, and realizes her instincts were correct when tensions escalate to murder. Now it is her responsibility to figure out what really happened on Malabar Hill, and to ensure that no innocent women or children are in further danger.

Inspired in part by the woman who made history as India's first female attorney, the Perveen Mistry novels are a richly wrought story of multicultural 1920s Bombay.

Murder, 1920s Bombay & A Woman: Sujata Massey’s Book is a Thriller

From The Quint:

A Murder on Malabar Hill (also titled the Widows of Malabar Hill) is a murder mystery set in 1920s Bombay with a protagonist who, being the first practising woman lawyer in the city, is fighting the fight on two fronts — crime & gender discrimination.

Inspired partially by Cornelia Sorabji – who was the first female advocate in India – Perveen Mistry has to struggle to establish herself as a female lawyer in 1920s Bombay. Despite a law degree from Oxford and a sharp mind, she isn’t taken seriously by most prospective clients – until a property dispute leads to a murder in a women’s zenana. Suddenly, her gender becomes an advantage; allowing her to don the cap of a detective and prove herself as a formidable lawyer.

Next in the series is The Satapur Moonstone

India, 1922: It is rainy season in the lush, remote Satara mountains southeast of Bombay, where the kingdom of Satapur is tucked away. A curse seems to have fallen upon Satapur's royal family, whose maharaja died of a sudden illness shortly before his teenage son was struck down in a tragic accident. The kingdom is now ruled by an agent of the British Raj on behalf of Satapur's two maharanis, the dowager queen and the maharaja's widow. The royal ladies are in dispute over the education of the young crown prince, and a lawyer's council is required-but the maharanis live in purdah and do not speak to men. Just one person can help them: Perveen Mistry, India's only female lawyer. 

read more here @ The Quint

The Book Hunters of Katpadi: A Bibliomystery by Pradeep Sebastian

Review by Anupama Chandra for Free Press Journal:

Columnist Pradeep Sebastian’s first novel, also purportedly India’s first bibliomystery (meaning a mystery involving the world of books), ‘The Book Hunters of Katpadi’ shows immense promise. Built around the peaceful setting of a Chennai-based store specialising in rare or antiquarian books called Biblio, and its amicable owner Neelambari Adigal (Neela) and her young associate Kayalveli Anbuchelvan (Kayal), this mystery has schools, children’s books, rare volumes, book collectors and sellers, book auctions and libraries galore.

The sole focus of the book is everything that goes into making books and some writers. There is nothing to entice the readers and, more essential to this book, scant characterisation whatsoever of even the key sellers and collectors. Even after reading the book thoroughly, you don’t know what made Neela and Kayal fall in love with books in the first place. In the last few chapters, you do get a rare glimpse at Neela’s journey to becoming an antiquarian book lover. A simple question such as why does a book collector collect a certain book is not addressed.