Having read and having thoroughly enjoyed Midnight at Malabar House, I was excited to read the next in the series about Persis Wadia, the first female detective in India. The book takes place in the early 1950s, three years after partition, and for any reader who wants to know more about this period in Indian history, this is a first-class mystery full of rich historical detail. The story centers around the thievery of the 600 year-old manuscript of The Divine Comedy from the Bombay Asiatic Society and the death of the Englishman who must have taken it. Vaseem Khan spins a sophisticated and gripping tale full of riddles and coded clues that keeps the reader mystified and curious as Persis unfolds the mystery of what really happened. To add to the detail and mystery of this situation, there are more murders connected to the manuscript, Mussolini plays a part, and the suspected thief has a connection to the Nazis that is revealed as the plot thickens. This book is compelling and clever and is highly recommended for all lovers of mysteries.

This is my kind of book. I already liked the fist one but I think this one is even better. It has all the things I love. Persis is a great protagonist and through her we get a better picture of the struggle of women in Indian society at that time. There is a literary treasure hunt with a Dante manuscript at the heart of it and trying to solve the clues is fun. Into the bargain, you get to find out lost of interesting facts about history as well. It's well written and engaging. I hope this is not the last in the series.

While i enjoyed reading the second outing of Persis Wadia, i dare say i enjoyed it a little less than the first book in the series. The mystery in this book - related to Dante's missing manuscript and a dead woman - were good but by the time I was three fourth into the book, the constant puzzles were tiring me out. And the end, while not exactly disappointing, was very wide in its international scope, reference to freemasons and because of its relation to historical events. It felt a bit too much.

I loved the way the character of Persis has developed though and I am rooting for her and Archie. I hope there will be many more books in the series. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for offering me an ARC.

Stolen priceless manuscripts! Missing scholars! Riddles! Murder! Nazis! It’s all happening for Persis Wadia India’s only woman police detective inspector. After solving her first big case all eyes are on her as she tries to sort out this politically sensitive situation before the papers get hold of it.
Persis remains the most charmless of heroines and I love her for it, she has all the tact of a sledge hammer, is totally aware of this and doesn’t give a damn. 👏👏 She is also ruthlessly determined, single minded and as tenacious as a terrier all things that make her an excellent detective.
She is however absolutely terrible in all her personal relationships (classic detective trope points) particularly with Archie, she treats him like dirt and any sensible man should have stopped trying long ago but then she keeps flashing bits of her hot bod at him, what’s a man to do? We never get any flashed bits of hot dude though all Arch has to do is pull the old “oh you're super sexy without your glasses” trick and he gets a snog and to cop a feel in the jeep. Hmmm? 🤔
Anyway I really enjoyed this I love a riddle even though I’m terrible at them and the reason for them was tenuous at best but I’ll go with it to see more from Persis and post partition Bombay.

The second book in this series does not disappoint. Again we meet Persis, the only female detective in India and the adventure begins anew. The character of Persis and the satellite characters around her are becoming more fleshed out and we see a bit more of her personal life here in this book. Set in post colonial India this is a series which I really hope develops. Khan writes so well, you can see and feel the city and the people so clearly. This mystery surrounds Dantes seminal work and I found myself wanting to know more, I enjoyed the story thoroughly and wouldhighly recommend it. My grateful thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me an ARC but especially the author for an entertaining, exciting and brilliant read

Who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt? Add in literary goodness, a murder or two, a few mysteries to solve, an author with a great sense of humour, and a cameo appearance by two of history’s big names and you’ve got a fantastic book.

Another thing this book has going for it is that it’s set in a time period that isn’t usually used when writing murder or mystery genre. Khan set his second installment in 1950s Mumbai, India and highlights the impact of partition, independence and WW2 and explores how these affected the lives of not only the natives but also colonials. Readers will be delighted with the sights and sounds of India as they follow clues and keep up with the detective as bodies pile up and the twists keep coming!

I love that a strong female is the lead in this series because it showcases so many unique conflicts of this era. Persis Wadia, Bombay’s only female police inspector has a tough job ahead of her. In addition to the task of finding her niche in a male-dominated career, she is also on the hunt for the valuable manuscript, a 600-year-old copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy, stolen from Bombay’s Asiatic Society archives and a missing scholar, the man charged with the document’s care. Persis and a forensic scientist pair up to solve the mystery. Before long, they realize they are not alone in their quest for the document. The author has given Persis personality and strength to forge her own path, even when it means being pitted against her peers.

My only concern was that I felt the infusion of the historical information bogged the storyline down. I wonder if it could be incorporated in such a way that it felt more part of the story rather than plopped into the story. I’m sure this seamless stitching of fact and fiction is possible.

Although the author is British-born, his decade in India in his 20s has inspired his writing. In addition, his employment for the past 16 years in the Department of Security and Crime Science at University College London has added to the authenticity of his crime writing.

I didn’t feel at a disadvantage having not read book 1. I would read more of the Malabar House Series of historical fiction

I was gifted this advance copy by Vaseem Khan, Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

"Dying Day" - Part 2 of the Malabar House series by Vaseem Khan.
5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 read!

A clever treasure hunt with a trail of clues set in witty riddles and puzzles.
A murder, a suicide and a lost treasure. Hitler and Mussolini made cameo appearances. Quite the series of historical clad crimes in an entanglement (Vaseem's signature touch). But my girl Persis muscled through the maze, solved all 3 mysteries like a hat-trick.

Was so amused at the Freemasonry becaming a saving-grace in the discovery of the treasure!

I loved it! I love Vaseem Khan's stories. I love his style of writing. Indulged in a Persis story yet again. I am already waiting for his next book.

Thank you so much, @hodderbooks for gifting this Advanced Reader's Copy. I was thrilled to receive Vaseem Khan's new murder mystery before the release date. You made my day.

Thank you @netgalley for making this happen!

#TheDyingDay #hodderandstoughton #hodder #hodderbooks #netgalley #arc #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview #vaseemkhan #themalabarhouseseries #themalabarhouse #midnightatmalabarhouse #advancedreaderscopy #igreads #bookstagram #bookstagrammers #bibliophile

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was fairly enjoyable, with Persis seeking a missing academic and the valuable manuscript it is assumed he has stolen. As Bombay's only female police inspector, Persis faces prejudice on a daily basis, although she could make her life easier if she weren't so rude to every one. I felt for her poor love interest, Archie - my advice to him would be to abandon her and look for some one kind instead.

The plot was very convoluted and involved a series of riddles and puzzles we were supposed to believe the desperate academic had taken the time to set at various locations around Bombay for reasons that no doubt seemed valid to him, but which I didn't buy into. It moved along at a good pace for about 50% of the time, but a surprising amount of the book consisted of infodumps about a whole variety of topics (Dante, Naziism, freemasonry to name but three), which were often detailed and not terribly interesting. They meant a character was always lecturing another about one of these topics, which read clumsily and slowed the narrative down.

Worth a read nonetheless.

Set in 1950s post-Partition and post-colonial India, The Dying Day by Vaseem Khan features a unique protagonist. Persis Wadia is the first female police detective in India. This is her second outing in the series, and features a DaVinci Code-esque hunt for a copy of The Divine Comedy, which has been stolen from the Bombay's Asiatic Society archives by an English researcher.

Khan does a great job showing the effects of Partition and independence on post-WWII India and the impact on both Indians and colonists. Persis, daughter of a well-known Parsee Bombay bookseller, is the first and only female detective on the police force. She is called upon to solve two cases - the first is the missing manuscript, and the other is the death of a white woman found on the railroad tracks. She finds that old sins cast long shadows, and that events from the previous decade are still causing problems in the new.

Persis encounters an old flame, while trying to decide whether to pursue a relationship with an English forensic scientist. She is also commanded, by her boss to speak at a women's event, but Persis does not consider herself a trailblazer, and has no desire to call attention upon herself as a example of "the new woman."

Khan is the author of the Inspector Chopra series, which I've thoroughly enjoyed. Persis has a strong voice, and has a solid core, much like Chopra. Also much like Chopra at the beginning of his series, she is in transition, and trying to find her place in an unfamiliar role as her society changes around her.

The one thing I didn't care for in the novel was the reappearance of Persis's old flame. He seemed more of a throwaway, swooping in like a deus ex machina, when Persis was demonstrating that she was well able to take care of herself. He didn't really add anything to the story for me.

Khan also recaps enough of the first book, Murder at Malabar House that readers will not feel like they're missing backstory if they haven't read it.

This fresh new series, set in a period and country not often found in mystery series, is recommended.

3.5/5 stars

I received an advance copy from Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley in return for my honest review.

Persis Wadia, India's first female police detective is back in this brilliantly plotted and highly entertaining murder mystery set in 1950 Mumbai, the second installment in Vaseem Khan's Malabar House Mysteries. When a rare and priceless edition of Dante's Divine Comedy mysteriously disappears from The Bombay Branch of the Royaĺ Asiatic Society, Persia finds herself leading an investigation at the centre of a vast and sinister intellectual puzzle involving a slew of literary riddles, a growing number of unexplained murders and some dangerous war criminals on the lam....
With its fiendishly written plot full of menaces, delicious humor, terrific dialogues and unforgettable characters, this elegant and old fashioned whodunit redolent with the smells and sounds of a recently independent India should definitely keep readers guessing and on the edge of their seat from start to finish. To be enjoyed without any moderation!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to get this ARC before its release date

Vaseem Khan’s “The Dying Day” follows India’s first female police inspector Persis Wadis as she attempts to recover a stolen copy of one of the oldest known copies of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Before she knows it, she finds herself following a trail of intricate clues from the missing scholar who had last been studying it, taking her all about Bombay. And as a small body count gradually ticks up, it increasingly becomes clear that she and her colleagues at the Malabar House police station aren’t the only ones trying to recover this priceless work.

The series of clues that Persis must follow has hints of Dan Brown. However, unlike any Dan Brown mystery, I actually liked the main characters in this book. Persis is as wonderfully dogged and stubborn a person as one will find - as she needs to be in order to endure in her career, where she is viewed divisively as either a positive example of a modern Indian woman by some and by many more as an unsettling deviation. I also enjoyed the setting in early 1950’s Bombay/Mumbai. Freshly post-partition and post-independence India is not a place that I have had the chance of encountering in my reading until now and is definitely a world that I’d like to return to again.

The one item that periodically tempered my reading experience was that the exposition felt a little overly heavy at points. Even in times where characters had good reason to explain something to one another, there were a few instances where the information clunkily flowed out as if they were less like people and more like sentient Wikipedia pages. However, these were just a few instances. Otherwise, between the tough detective at the core of the store, the streets of Bombay in which it played out, and the numerous unanticipated turns and twists of the plot, this made for a great blend of historical fiction and mystery. I hope that author Vaseem Khan will let us see more of Persis and Malabar House in the future.

Mr Khan, thank you.

I love treasure hunts. I love books. I love treasure hunts and books and literary clues to a literary treasure and mystery. This is a mystery which starts with the loss of a manuscript = Dante's Divine Comedy from a society in Bombay. There is a trail of clues and the reasons behind the disappearance ,the how and the why it was taken was a delight to find out. I do love a mystery and when it concerns real life literary facts (much of the book is based on or inspired by real facts and events) then this is music to my ears!

Fascinating mystery set in post-war Bombay replete with secret codes, multiple murders snd many twists. The detective is the first woman police inspector snd she displays a fierce independence. Well written, the book concludes on a slightly disappointing nite, but up to then it was a compelling read.