Midnight at Malabar House rings in the start of a new historical mystery series that promises to be a solid, enjoyable, thoroughly appealing addition to the whodunit canon. Inspector Persis Wadia, 1950s India's fictional first woman in the police force, provides the smart, prickly, stubborn heart of the story, and I look forward to reading more of her adventures. The setting, Bombay (as it was then known) at the beginning of India's post-Britain independence, is far more than just historical set decor; the political, social, and religious tensions of the time, as well as the myriad cultures at play in this metropolis, are completely woven into the plot and characters. As for that plot, the thing that can make or break a mystery for me, I was beyond relieved to find that I had neither predicted the solution earlier than I felt I was supposed to, nor rolled my eyes at the way it went down. Vaseem Khan is no stranger to writing a mystery novel, since this isn't his first detective series, so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, but I haven't read his other books (though I will now!), and was glad to find a well-paced whodunit structure with clues and suspects sprinkled with a delicate and skillful hand.

I'd recommend Midnight at Malabar House, and future books in the series, to any fan of historical fiction and classic whodunit-style mysteries.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review!

Vaseem Khan is well known for his Detective Ganesh series, set in Mumbai, but here he takes a trip back in time to Post-Partition India – with a female protagonist in the form of Persis Wadia.

She is India’s first female Police Inspector, and has to predictably navigate the misogynistic attitudes to women in the police force, both from inside the police and from the public at large.

Persis is tucked away in Malaber House in Bombay, not the most prestigious of police stations. The description put me in mind of Slough House, in Mick Herron’s series, albeit in a different country and time period. It’s the place to tuck away the sleepy, the nearly retired, and the other unwanted officers.

In the first chapter, Persis is called to Laburnum House as its owner, Sir James Herriot, has been murdered on New Year’s Eve.

What then follows is a police procedural which takes in the momentous events of Partition, with a background of violence and distrust that characterised parts of India in the Post-War years, as British Rule came to an end.
We are introduced to Persis’ family and work colleagues, as the trusty supporting actors. She is assisted in her investigation by Archie Blackfinch, a British criminologist who has been set to India to set up a forensic crime unit and train the Indian Police Force.

There are twists and turns and revelations which drive the investigation from Bombay to the North West of India, near to the contentious border with Pakistan.

Khan weaves the pieces of the puzzle together cleverly, with plenty of social history thrown in to set the scene, and also to gently guide the 21st Century reader through the Troubles. Absorbing and exciting in equal measure.

This is the first book I have read by Vaseem Khan, although I do have a couple of the Bay Ganesh series sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. This book, set at the start of 1950, as India moves towards independence, is the first in a new series featuring a wonderful character, Persis Wadia. The book is a joy to read for numerous reasons and I really could not put it down.

Firstly, the characters are a delight. I admired Persis enormously, despite her faults, because her idealism, integrity and desire for the truth, despite the consequences, are ideals many of us start life with, but abandon as we get older, I wish we could all retain them. She is also a pioneer, never an easy position to hold, and the challenges she faces are well considered, developed and thought through, and I found myself absolutely urging her on, to beat the system, something so few of us are ever able to do. Blackfinch and Persis’ father and aunt are also well developed characters and I hope we get to meet them again in future books.

The sense of place is extraordinary. I read somewhere that Khan said that he wanted his books to ‘take readers on a journey to India’ and it certainly did that for me. I studied post colonial literature as part of my English degree and learnt a little about partition and the horrors of that period and I feel Khan was able to portray the atrocities of the period, while showing what war can do to ordinary people and the scars it leaves for generations.

In addition, the solution to the murder was unexpected and kept me guessing until the end, which meant that I found it difficult to put the book down. It was a great whodunnit and whilst the clues were there, they only become obvious at the end of the book.

I loved the book, devoured it in about 4 hours and cannot wait for the next instalment. In the meantime I have a date with Inspector Chopra...

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of this book, in return for an honest review.

This book has a murder and there is a mystery but both of these elements seem to take a back seat as the author is seemingly more interested in the scene setting elements. I think my biggest problem with this is that it wasn't done with a light touch.

We have the classic misfit mob in post-partition India, so far so straightforward but then into the mix we have the first female police officer and all the politics that brings. I am hoping that this will reduce in volume in the future books as it was done to death, there is a reminder of the fact that she is a women around every 20-30 pages. We get it, it was difficult. The character herself though is well drawn and is a tenacious detective who obviously goes against advice from higher up to seek out the truth she believes is there!!

The historical narrative tackles the partition head on, it is heavy on the blame game and whilst may be based on facts needed a lighter touch. If the author is seeking to win hearts and minds with his narrative he needs to take readers with him rather than lay it on in such a way.

The only other thing that bothered me was the choice of the name Sir James Herriot as the victim, I couldn't get beyond the beloved veterinarian of the same name, it was an unfortunate choice and if there was a greater significance I missed it.

Those things said there is a satisfying conclusion, its a bit trite but wasn't quite what I expected it to be so there was a pleasing amount of mystery. I would read another of this series to see if the 'overdone' elements are toned down. History cannot be altered though a greater understanding can help for the future.

#MidnightatMalabarHouse #NetGalley

I love Vaseem Khan's Baby Ganesh mystery series set in Mumbai, and I was eager to see what he could do with a historical mystery, especially one involving the first female police officer in India. Midnight at Malabar House introduces a character and a time period that I have to know more about.

The horrors of the 1947 Partition loom large in this book, as they should considering the time in which it is set. The Partition was so momentous that its aftershocks are still being felt today, and the author talks about this a bit at the end of the book.

The mystery here is deeply satisfying, but it is the character of Persis Wadia that holds center stage and refuses to turn loose. She is paired with Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, a relationship that should continue to prove increasingly interesting as the series progresses. Persis's wheelchair-bound father, Sam, owns a well-known bookshop in Bombay, and this is where Persis has grown up-- now with ever more frustrating visits from her Auntie Nussie who's determined to get Persis married off and away from all this police nonsense.

The main thing that makes Persis such a fascinating character is her ironclad sense of morality, her belief in the new India, and her youth. She has the pig-headed righteousness of youth, convinced that she's always right, convinced that her way is the moral-- and only-- way. She doesn't have a frivolous molecule in her body, and she certainly didn't inherit a humor gene. Persis could be an obnoxious character, but she's not. Her naïveté means that it never occurs to her that the reason why those powerful government men are content to let her head the investigation is because they are convinced that she's incapable of solving it. She's a mere woman after all! As she flings herself at one obstacle after another, we see that some of those sharp edges of hers are going to be worn down with time.

I am looking forward to watching Persis Wadia mature as a human and as a police officer, and I look forward to Vaseem Khan's next book in the series with a great deal of anticipation. For those of you who are familiar with Sujatta Massey's excellent Perveen Mistry historical series, give Midnight at Malabar House a try. I think you're going to like it.

Midnight at Malambar House by Vaseem Khan is a detective story set in India after the partition. It is an interesting read and I loved the descriptions of Bombay and India and this lead me to wanting to read more about India’s independence from Britain. The story itself is a well done whodunnit detective story which builds to a climax when we discover the culprit.

What a great start to a new series! I enjoyed not only the strong heroine, Inspector Persis Wadia and the fascinating 1950 Mumbai setting but also the rich history and interesting sociopolitical aspects of the story. My only quibble was that I found the story was a little too long. Nonetheless, I look forward to my next visit with Inspector Persis Wadia.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Received an ARC in exchange for a review.
I did like the book, and it's worth a read for those who like history based mystery stories
I've previously enjoyed this author's Baby Ganesh series, and this looks to be the start of a new mystery series set in just-post-Partition India. I found the history quite interesting as it's not something I know a lot about. I think, for me, this was actually the best part of this book.
The main character is the (fictitious) first woman police officer in India (in reality, this event happened much later). The mystery - the possibly politically motivated murder of a British bachelor - is well handled and suitably twisty.
The supporting characters are fairly stereotypical - loyal (?) aide, unsupportive colleagues, gruff dad, outsider love interest, but this is the first book (in a series?) so hopefully more depth will come with time.
I didn't find the setting and locations to be as fully developed as in the author's previous books, again, I'm sure he was concentrating on the new characters.
My last comment is about the protagonist - again, I realize this is the first outing for this character, but she didn't have a lot of depth; I think I want to say that this could have been any "outsider trying to break in" story, her gender seemed mostly to be added as something to hang the plot on.

An outstanding crime novel set in India going back to 1950

If you are interested in gender issues like the battle of women to find their voices, historical justice issues and crime, this novel is a must. It is also the beginning of women blending into jobs men usually did.

Just after Indian independence, during the Partition, Gandhi has just been assassinated, delightful, and courageous and endearing Persis Wadia becomes the first female inspector of police in India. She is banished into night duty at Malabar House by her male superiors. Just after midnight, she takes a call reporting the murder of Sir James Herriot, an English diplomat still living in India. Unbeknown to her, this case and her determination to uncover the truth, is the point at which her male colleagues have to reluctantly acknowledge her investigative intelligence and ability. Not without immense hardship for Persis.

Most enjoyable for me in the book was the informative aspect to the history of that time in India alongside the emerging role of women in the workplace. Persis central to the story is a lone female in a male-dominated world. She perseveres, ignores attempts to sabotage her and stubbornly moves forward.

All these ingredients mixed together make a deliciously spicy Indian novel.


BonnieK

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

Promising but waffles a lot

Plot Summary:

The story starts in the year 1949/1950, just over a couple of years after India’s independence. Malabar House is the least utilised of all the police units in the city of Mumbai and Persis Wadia is the first and only woman IPS officer at the police station, who happens to be in charge on NYE and lands a high-profile murder case.

Set against the backdrop of a newly independent nation, still seething and recovering from the aftermath of the partition, Midnight at Malabar House attempts to take the reader on a journey through a Bombay that still retains the colonial charm, the bureaucracy and red-tapism of the police force and the challenges of being a woman in a man’s world.

What worked for me:

The themes that the author has tackled with in this book are very daunting - those of partition, the British Rule and the sexism in the police force which was very male dominated at the time the book is set (in reality the first woman IPS officer in India was Kiran Bedi, who started service only in 1975).

Its fair to say Vaseem Khan has done a decent job of doing justice to all of these and still managed to put together an engaging story.

The plot is good enough, very promising, and Vaseem Khan can certainly write a good story, but he is no Agatha Christie, although the climax was very reminiscent of some of her novels, where all the suspects are rounded up in a room and their motives laid bare.

What didn’t work for me:

While the plot premise was promising, I found the author to waffle a lot, almost to the point of going out of his way to show the challenges of being a woman in a man’s world – every man and sometimes women, Persis speaks to puts her down, some subtly, some more blatantly.

Then there is the constant commentary inserted, just when the book starts to get a bit engaging, about the British rule and how it affected India – example Persis’ exchange with Robert Campbell.

It potentially comes with the premise of tackling so many interweaving themes that the author can’t resist the temptation to insert his thoughts about colonialism and the resulting exploitation.

The book however is a murder mystery and not a history lesson, therefore this level of introspection was not needed.

Finally details details details : IPS does not allow married women to serve, I am not sure if this is actually true.
Also there is no such thing as a sleeveless saree, we wear a sleeveless blouse with a sari, which is actually a fabric to be draped.

Vaseem Khan begins a new crime fiction series, a stunning blend of actual Indian history in one of its most turbulent of times, with fiction. It is set in a Bombay and India on the cusp on becoming the largest democratic republic in the world but a nation plagued and divided by religion, fractured amidst the terrors and horrors of Partition, with separation along the Radcliffe line, costing millions of lives and triggering the huge movement of people, Muslims forced to gravitate towards Pakistan and Sikhs and Hindus to India. Amidst this background, the female Parsee Inspector Persis Wadia, is based at Malabar House, where misfits and those who have come to the end of their professional careers are placed. She is on duty when she gets a call from the aide, Madan Lal, from Laburnam House, the home of the important British diplomat, Sir James Herriot, dressed as Mephistopheles, is discovered trouserless, and murdered at his New Year's Eve Party.

Persis, the first woman police officer in India, finds herself plunged into a high profile case that is to test her to her limits, hampered by political interference, colleagues and a public that refuses to accept that a woman can do her job, with some actively wanting to bring her down, facing situations where her orders are ignored. Herriot is far from the good man he is portrayed as, and the suspects come from the circles of the rich and privileged in Bombay and the few remaining British, hardly any of whom are willing to be co-operative. Helped by British criminalist, Archimedes 'Archie' Blackfinch, Persis has to battle with her superiors, including her boss, the Superintendent of Police, Roshan Seth, untangle the lies and deception to uncover corruption, secrets, more murder, and engage in a high stakes gamble to reveal the truth at the end.

Khan creates a terrific protagonist in Persis, idealistic, awkward in her relations with others such as Archie, inexperienced and having to learn on her feet and confront the reality that the truth is often far from what is sought by those in powerful political positions. At home, she lives with her bookshop owning father, still grieving the loss of his wife, Sanaz, unwilling yet to divulge the circumstances surrounding her death to Persis. Aunt Nussie is insistent in her plans to get Persis married and producing children, but marriage will mean having to leave the police, and Persis hasn't worked so hard to get to where she is to let go of her ambitions and ideals so lightly. This is a brilliant read, so informative on British colonial history in India and Partition, exemplified in the characters such as Robert Campbell, steeped in the British mythology of their rule, believing in their superiority and that they knew what was best for everyone else, unable to conceive of any other world order. Looking forward with great anticipation to the next in the series. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

I really hope this book marks the start of a new series by Vaseem Khan. It's a great story and one book featuring the indefatigable and charming Inspector Wadia is simply not enough!

The story opens on New Year's Eve, 1949 in Bombay. As the clock ticks over into a new decade of Indian independence, Inspector Wadia is called in to investigate the murder of an important British diplomat, Sir James Herriot. Initially, it seems that Inspector Persis Wadia has been called precisely because no-one has any faith in her to actually solve the crime (she is India's first female police officer), or in the bunch of misfits she works with at Malabar House. However, she is determined to prove her worth and unwilling to give in until she has uncovered the truth.

It's this determination that makes the pioneering Inspector Wadia such an interesting character. She really has the odds stacked against her, but uses her intelligence, humour and sheer bloody-mindedness to take on an extremely politically sensitive case - Khan does not skimp on the history of India and Empire that have led to this precarious situation so there is plenty of explanation for those of us less well-versed in the politics. However, the book is far from being simply a history lesson - in Persis Wadia, we are treated to a very human and realistic character grappling admirably with a situation way beyond her control. We see her own struggles - including her strained relationship with her father and a rather sweet and inept flirtation with another investigator - and like her all the more for it.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes historical crime fiction with plenty of heart. The setting is interesting, the characters are engaging and the plot is well-constructed. You - like me - will end the book wondering what is next for Inspector Wadia and very much looking forward to finding out.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Vaseem Khan’s Midnight at Malabar House comes at a time when three writers are already delving into 20th century India through murder mystery novels. Each writer’s work stands out in one way or the other, but Vaseem’s new novel is starkly different from those three because unlike them, it is set in Independent India.

Beginning on the last day of 1949, the novel follows India’s first woman police detective Persis Wadia, an Inspector in the Bombay Police, as she goes about solving a high-profile murder while grappling with the aftermath of the Raj, her worries about her ageing father, and the fact that she’s a woman in what is still very much a man’s world, a fact she isn’t allowed to forget for very long.

Vaseem tries but doesn’t quite manage to bring a sense of Bombay to the page. It is the most in-your-face city in India. Always has been. There is a tremendous amount of character to Bombay. And Vaseem does the digging to give the reader the facts and figures. Somehow, it doesn’t really form an image the way other novels about or set in the city do. It feels like someone just describing Bombay rather than trying to bring a sense of the city, a feel of it to the page. And this is strange because he managed to capture the beating heart of Bombay and its middle-class suburbs quite well in his book The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra (though I couldn’t finish that book). He does doff his hat to one of the city’s most significant political leaders through a character in the novel though – part of Wadia’s team is a subordinate named George Fernandes, a touch I, a fan of such references, really enjoyed.

Wadia is your typical gumshoe but in uniform. Yes, her desire to uncover the truth stems from a purer motivation than most other detectives, but that’s what makes her interesting. She makes you root for her because she is the kind of aspirational hero any society would be glad of, but no society is actually willing to back when push comes to shove. She has her drawbacks too, but Vaseem is careful in not letting them take over in a manner such that the whole character turns into a masala cop.

The mystery at hand is also a compelling one, even though the denouement does see the plot go a fair bit off-track. Vaseem explores keenly a young India, free from the clutches of her captors and yet still somewhat unsure of the country she is, which is what makes the precise time period of the book, taking place in the run-up to the day India became a Republic, so interesting.

The writing itself is functional, though there are places I felt it could have been so much better. There are anachronisms too, ones which will hopefully be corrected by the time the novel hits stands on the 20th of August. I loathed the summation of the case towards the end of the novel – it really almost ruined the whole experience of it, but on the flip side, I appreciated the actual climax, one that sticks to the genre of novels Midnight at Malabar House so clearly belongs to.

All in all, an enjoyable book if one puts aside any expectations and also is willing to be a little patient.

I was able to view a copy of the book pre-release thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for a review.

Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan

I met Vaseem virtually when he dropped into a TwitterChat with Ann Cleeves - we invited him to be our guest. As our libraries were in lockdown we couldn’t read his work in advance.
This was my first chance to read his work and I found it very compelling , I enjoyed the procedural crime novel set in a totally new (for me) setting. The main characters have lots of potential- Persis, Archie and Persis’ father.
The backdrop of Indian independence and Partition I found fascinating- we’re in danger of losing touch with our awareness of our colonial history - many of us have been touched by India without knowing very much about it.
Without India I wouldn’t exist - my great grandfather joined the army to escape poverty and found his wife to be in Trincomalee. She was born in Ferzipor to an army family and ended her days on Tyneside. Ferzipor would have been at the centre of activity during this period. I’d like to know more.
An enjoyable read that has opened new doors for me.

"That is the true legacy of Partition, The way it has coloured the perceptions of two peoples who were essentially one, the way it continues to serve as a means by which political interests on both sides of the border can employ hatred and prejudice as a means of deflecting criticism of their regimes.
One can only hope that the wounds of history are healed in the fullness of time. Only then might the ghosts of Partition, the millions of dead and missing, find peace."
-Vaseem Khan

Oh my gosh I love how this man writes. He could write brochures and I would read them because they'd be the best brochures out there. So when I saw that he has a new series out [after being wildly disappointed that it wasn't a new Inspector Chopra book, as I ADORE that series and have learned so much about India by reading them], I decided to request the ARC and was thrilled to receive it. And boy was I NOT disappointed. THIS is going to be a great series, I can just feel it.

The setting is Bombay, 3 years after Partition and on the cusp of official Independence for India. Persis Wadia is the first female police officer, and to be frank, she has a huge chip on her shoulder. She is young and eager to prove her mettle in a world that thinks that she doesn't belong and cannot do her job [more than once in this book, she hears "YOU do not belong here" from both her colleagues and from the people she has to interview while investigating the murder - its a bitter pill]. Add that people are willing to lie at any cost, and to cover each other's tracks, and her job gets harder with each day. Aided by a British Forensic Scientist [Archie Blackfinch] - who she isn't sure if she even LIKES, she sets off to solve the murder that lands in her lap on New Years Eve, no matter what. And WHAT a story it is. And right before the reveal, I realized who it was and was shocked. I never saw it coming. It was very satisfying and very well done.

A note here - if you are unfamiliar with India's history, I would highly suggest reading up on the Colonialism of India by Britain and then reading up on Partition and what happened during that time and what it meant for India and its people. Because if you go in with little to no knowledge, you will be spending a LOT of time looking things up because both of those topics are vital to the story. I have read quite a few books about India, set in India or Pakistan and I still learned stuff I didn't know. So I would suggest reading something, even if it is to give yourself a refresher course via Google or Wikipedia.

I highly recommend this book and I am so looking forward for this series to continue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vaseem Khan is a pure class writer. Wordsmith and a master at wordplay. The ‘Midnight At Malabar House’ is his best yet. This one swept me off my feet completely because this becomes an entity of its own without any form of shadowing from the Inspector Chopra and Baby Ganesh Agency series. Midnight at Malabar House takes a different atmosphere and the build-up of story took a different turn. The story is centred around a female police inspector, Persis Wardia trying to find her voice in a male-centric police force.

How Khan wrote a whole new murder mystery that distinguishes itself from his previous works is pure magic. Apart from Agatha Christie, I haven’t come across many crime-writers who could accomplish this contrast in their work.

Partition is quite a tricky subject to handle without forming a biased judgement. Khan carries out the entire juxtaposition eloquently to his readers. Argues out the complexities, multitudes and mirror them to his readers is a testament to his well-thought-out work. He wrote as a matter-of-fact of the political hegemonies which were radicalized by religions and greed for power.

I felt he achieved a middle-(battle)-ground in a flashback in Imphal,Manipur where Indian soldiers (INA) backed up by the Japanese army were fighting the Allied forces of British and the Indian soldiers engaged by the English regiment. Indians and Japanese together on one hand and on the other hand were the Indians with the colonial masters. Double whammy crisis that involved gruesome bloodshed and inhumane cruelties carefully handled by Khan in this story.

His finishing touches are so smooth. No loose ends. All tied up to give his readers a perfectly composed transition in his plot that takes you from Bombay to Punjab with hints of Scotsmen, archaic Indian traditions, Nawabs, the Radcliffe line, and a scenic train journey. A little history of the train systems built in India also took its place in the story. This is no cliched colonial hangover plot which we often come across. But a vividly described prose that enables readers to visualize the entire story before your eyes.

Midnight Malabar House has forensic science features, the usage of Locard’s Principle by the sidekick detective and pathologist - one to stimulate the minds of crime-story lovers. Shows the contrasting entitlements reserved for the Bombay elites and the sycophants of Britishers from the soldiers born on Indian soil fighting a war against their own which wasn’t theirs to begin with.

A glimpse of Churchill orchestrating the power play between Jinnah and Nehru, with 2 other characters Mountbatten and Gandhi equally significant in their roles to the entire catastrophe in the subcontinent.

Khan handled the rich versus poor issues, the egocentric minds of the Indian males whom Persis Wardia had to fight against, the once two brothers (Muslims and Hindus) at loggerheads, career nepotism, misogynist predators always after the women, the always vulgar racial disparities the Britishers had imposed on the Indians and the old feudal system displaced by the supposedly progressive democratic government.

I loved the historical features in his story on the British architecture combined with the Portugese roots which evolved into a cosmopolitan Bombay. The religious and geographical trivia of Punjab, Amritsar. Exotic indian jewelleries, glitz, glam and all that jazz. Human sensibilities, truth, justice and ambition, twisted conscience. George Orwell’s ‘Thought Police’, Bhagat Singh’s revolutionary law vision, Isaiah’s philosophy on the righteous, and even ‘Doctor Zhivago’ play their cameo in Khan’s story.

The climax is provocative and flavourful left to the devices of Persis who had no choice but to throw the cat among the pigeons to identify the murderer. One of my favourite lines by Persis is, “Have you ever tried to stop the monsoon?”. Dang! She’s one femme formidable.

This is a surreal movie experience in a book. I deliberately read it slowly as I did not want it to end so soon. Because the story was too good. He has written prolifically on the undercurrents of corruption, warped mentality, social class prejudices, political expediency, malleable justice that are often exploited by the rich and the powerful. Each step he takes to solving the crime is carefully layered. I’ve truly fallen in love with his writing. I read from cover to cover. His heartfelt note at the end is a reminder that we have to rise above hatred if you want to go into history.

This new series of his is a sure blockbuster. Vaseem Khan proves himself again and again, he is a true class apart. You are in for an entirely sensually riveting crime thriller. Irresistibly ambrosial and I could sum it up with his signature line in ‘Midnight At Malabar House’ - “By a pool of nectar, at the shrine of the sixty-eight”.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC copy.

#MidnightAtMalabarHouse #Netgalley #VaseemKhan

This is the first book I have read by this author, and the first book in a new series introducing Persia Wadia the first female Inspector, as well as the only female police officer and Inspector, set in Bombay. She has been assigned to work from Malabar House which is where all the disgraced or police officers whose careers are over are sent. December 31st 1949 Persia is working when she receives a call to attend Laburnum House the home of Sir James Herriot, a prominent English diplomat, has been murdered, at his New Years Eve party. From the start no one expects her to solve the case, or even expects much of her at all. But Persia is a determined young woman, she is strong willed and determined and will stand up to anyone who tries to say different.

This is a great start to a new series, not only does it cover the story of the murder and Persia’s endeavours to solve it but It also covers political, racial and religious tension that was happening at this time, when independence from being ruled by the British and also partition were at the forefront of people’s minds.

The novel is told from Persia’s point of view, at times she is like a bulldozer, but I think this is because she is young and is determined to prove everyone wrong. But she does have some lessons to learn as we get to the conclusion mainly political lessons. I look forward to see if she learns anything from this, although I hope she stays strong and determined to get the job done and bring justice. It will also be interesting to see how her character develops along with Archie Blackfinch, a Criminalist from Scotland Yard, currently on secondment. The story has a great plot that keeps you guessing throughout, its slow paced, with a great mixture of interesting characters.

There is a lot of information in this story that I wasn’t aware of, but it is interesting to learn. How partition affected the people, and the millions that died through these times of political, racial and religious tension. The author manages to show not only the divisions but how the different factions had to work together.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #Hodder&Stoughton for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

In this historical crime novel we are taken to (the then) Bombay. In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 1949 a telephone call will come through to the CID office Malabar House. Due to the season this is being “manned” by Inspector Persis Wadia. Persis is the only female police inspector in the force, or possibly in India. As a result she has been posted to an office of police misfits and malcontents who cannot be relied upon to offer proper support. In the wider world as a woman officer she is regarded variously as something sitting on the scale of aberration to an insult to decency and possibly God. Although young and still relatively inexperienced she is committed to her career and is learning to walk the tightrope, but there have been a number of wobbles on the way. The first question she will ask is why her office has been rung in the first place.
Nadan Lal, aide to Sir James Herriot a wealthy businessman, reports that Sir James has been found dead at his desk during a big party at his house. He appears to have been stabbed and is naked from the waist down. Persis will need first to question both the staff and the influential, and largely unaccommodating, guests before moving on to investigate this complex crime. She will have to look behind the façade of Sir James’ life and business and that of his acquaintances, but she will do this under increasing scrutiny (possibly with the intention that she will fail) and to a deadline.
The deadline will be January the 26th as this is the day that the new Indian Constitution will come into force not quite 3 years after Independence and of course partition. Politics are not incidental to this tale, because since the British have ceased to rule India many thongs may have seemingly continued as previously, but behind that there is serious jockeying for power (political and financial) and influence in the new developing state. But Partition had not been peaceful - it had been extremely violent and it had left a swathe of problems, uncertainties and damaged and disgruntled people. The implications of these were still playing themselves out. It seems that Sir James Herriot, who had chosen to “stay on” when many of the British had left, would have been negotiating these changes at both a business and personal level.
Persis is a key character in this book (as indeed others in the series). She has to not just do the practicalities of her police job but work her way through this minefield of external circumstances and sensitivities, constantly under warning of the implications of getting it “wrong”. But as a real person she has to deal with her daily life too and juggle these competing demands with a busy job. She lives with her father, still grieving the loss of his wife. He runs a bookshop and has a range of customers (friends?) whose links can fortunately provide Persis with key knowledge. Her aunt is determined that she should marry urgently and on this occasion she feels it should be her son. Persis’ family’s private life mirrors many of the difficulties and changes of the emerging new India.
So this is detective investigation against the clock, with a personable but challenged and maverick detective. All set against the background of India of the time and the complexities of the various cultures, politics and stresses. Khan handles all of this extremely well. He seamlessly melds all the issues, creating an entirely believable background. Yes, it is a detective novel. So there will be a number of possible murderers or motives but the guilty party cannot be spotted too early. It requires investigation of many possible background threads and this allows the time and characters to be explored in some detail. This makes for a good read.

I loved reading this book. Not just for the mystery, which i was able to solve before the climax, but also the overall impression that the book created. As an Indian, i loved the historical details that fitted the story so well, the descriptions that were realistic and the socio-political conditions of the time of the partition and a young nation's rise in the 1950, the year in which the novel is set.

The character of Persis was inspiring and one to which i could relate with. I liked that her personal.life was also well weaved within the narrative, yet it never threatened to overtake it. I couldn't help but compare her to Sujata Massey's Perveen Mistry. They both are firebrand characters in their own right, hailing from the same community and yet totally different. In a fictional universe, i hope they get to meet and work on a case together someday!

I noticed one geographical anomaly in the book though. There is reference to river Brahmputra in the context of a place near Delhi. But Brahmputra flows in a completely different part of India. Perhaps the river being referred to is the Yamuna?


Overall, loved this book in every way - the plot, the characters, the pacing, the atmosphere. Definitely looking forward to the next in the series. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing a copy in return of an honest review.

I wanted to try this author for ages, but couldn't catch up with his other series. I'm glad he started another one.
I love historical settings in a mystery, and I really enjoyed this one. It was interesting to read with all the other details of the cultural and historical conditions in India. The mystery was decent and well written, so really enjoyable read.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.