A fresh, original, atmospheric mystery, the first book I've read by Sujata Massey, but definitely not my last.

From reviews, I had expected something with a more historical fiction -type feel, but the structure of this felt more like a mystery. There was a lot of great period detail incorporated but it never got dry. I'm excited to read the next in the series. There are plenty of 1920s mysteries featuring interesting heroines, but the setting and cultural details make this one unique.

Perhaps this author just isn't for me- I've tried another book by her and bounced off it.

It could also be that I didn't have the patience to get through the book.

The premise seemed pretty interesting. The first female lawyer in India, working on a case revolving around women in purdah (seclusion) so that only she was equipped to investigate.

However, about 70 pages in, nothing had really gotten going. Perveen, the main character, had done paperwork, chatted with her father (a fellow lawyer) and her butler, seen a suspicious character looking at her office across the street, and gone to greet her English friend who was returning to Bombay after time in England. A case had crossed her desk about a will. She'd also seen a man who reminded her of her ex, Cyrus.

This is a lot of set up, but not much as actually happened yet. And for some reason, I just could not sink into the setting. Bombay in the early 20th century is a pretty vibrant, unique, interesting place, but I just could not feel like I was there. There were food descriptions, but I couldn't smell or taste the food. I couldn't picture what the buildings looked like or what people wore. I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't connect.

I did skim the book although I didn't read it closely. It ends up being split into two stories- one flashback and one about the present day law case. The flashback was all about Perveen's marriage. It wasn't a pretty picture, but I wondered why Perveen's parents didn't do more due diligence since arranged marriages were much more the norm than love marriages. It was interesting, some of the traditions around women truly horrifying. It was also predictable, although the author was able to make me feel for Perveen.

The law case was what I skimmed more quickly. It wasn't as interesting to me. I'm not sure how well the two stories melded until the very end of the book and they took away from each other's momentum.

So, I wanted to like the book but just couldn't get into it. YMMV.

Fantastic new series that brings a fresh look at India during the rocky period of British colonialism.

What a wonderful and unusual mystery. The character and the setting made this an unforgettable read. I've already recommended this to library patrons looking for unusual legal-based mysteries.

Loved learning about the history of Bombay and Calcutta, especially with regards to the role of women, during the early 20th century.

One of the great things about books is that you can travel to another time period and other cultures to see the world through others eyes. This book is set in Bombay in 1921 with a backstory in 1916. Pervert and her family live in the Parsi community and we learn of that cultures treatment of women while watching our main character solve the murder.
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I have loved Sujata Massey's work since I first read Girl in a Box (and then had to go and read all the Rei Shimura titles), so I was really excited to see a new work from her. I found this to be a enjoyable read that seemed to plod a bit in places. I liked the historical detail but felt that it was a bit overdone. That being said, I plan to read the next title in the series.

This mystery had three things going for it. It was in a time and place, early 20th Century Bombay, that was different and thus interesting. Iit had a believable, relevant backstory about the first woman lawyer in that time and place. Finally, the mystery at the core was excellent.

The Widows of Malabar Hill touched me deeply in many ways. First, it reached me as a professional -- one who is fortunate not to have struggled in the ways that Purveen did, but who has heard the stories of women who have. Then it touched me with Purveen's interactions with cultures different from her own -- one that she worked with and one that she fought hard to survive. Her comeback touched me even more deeply.
I do wonder if this will be a series. Highly recommended to those who are interested in women's history, the legal profession, and/or India.....and much more!

Such a great book and it is written so goid. Drawn from the very first pages

Sujata Massey has created an irresistible heroine in Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s first female solicitor. It’s 1921, and Perveen balances her modern ideas with the too traditional ideas of colonial India. Massey never crosses over into anachronism; Perveen remains an observant, if not too strict, Parsee, but she’s a determined young woman and a champion for other women in a society where they almost never get a break.

Perveen goes to interview the three widows of a late client of her father, Jamshedji Mistry, one of Bombay’s most esteemed lawyers. She suspects that the women — two of whom have spent their entire lives in purdah (isolation) — are being bamboozled by the late husband’s estate trustee, Faisal Mukri. But before long, the shifty Mukri has been murdered, and the widows are the obvious suspects. Massey does yeoman’s work in the plot set in 1921. Unfortunately, she cuts back and forth between 1921 and a less-interesting backstory from 1916 that slowed the novel to crawl each time and left me impatient to get back to the suspenseful mystery. It was irritating enough to dock the rating a star. A more gifted writer (I’m talking about you, Laurie R. King) would have woven the backstory into the main timeline.

Now, back to the positive. Tarquin Hall’s Vish Puri novels and Davies’ Marcus Didius Falco novels serve as lessons on modern India and Ancient Rome, respectively, with the education seamlessly interwoven in the wonderful plots; here, Massey is up to the same challenge. She introduces readers to the smells, sounds and sights of colonial India; the domestic lives of Parsee, Hindu and Muslim; and the hopes of women — English and Indian — who dreamed of a fuller life. And, lucky us! As this is the first of a series, readers will get many more tastes of colonial India — and less of the sour taste of intercutting stories.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Soho Press in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well written lovely story about a fearless woman in India. I loved the characters, the setting and the way it was written. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy for sure!

Intricate look at early 20th century life for an Indian woman, told through the lens of a murder mystery. Well written, fascinating characters. Great for the mystery lover, historical fiction lover, or women's studies major in your life.

My favorite kind of mystery — my favorite kind of book, really — is one with a very detailed setting that introduces me to a world that is unfamiliar. This book definitely did that for me. Kudos to Ms. Massey for what appears to be a beautifully researched visit to the multiple cultures, family structures, and legal codes of 1920’s Bombay. Sequels, please!

In Bombay in the 1920s, Perveen is the only female solicitor, and she has had to endure many hardships to reach that point. As part of her work for her father's law office, she assists in an estate case involving a longtime client who has died, and his three widows who have chosen to isolate themselves according to the custom of purdah. The will is complicated and difficult to sort out because the three women may not have any face to face contact with men. Their agent turns up murdered, and Perveen suspects that he has been less than honest with the widows. Meanwhile, her best friend, a classmate from Oxford, has arrived in Bombay, and is a neighbor of the widows. Even more interesting to me than the murder mystery is Perveen's back story, told intermittently. We learn of her romance with a handsome charming man from Calcutta who becomes the love of her life. After they are married and she moves in with his parents who have orthodox antiquated beliefs about women, her life becomes a hell until she leaves Calcutta and she returns to Bombay and then to Oxford. The narrative is fast-moving and very interesting for the cultural and historical insights into 1920s India. Because I was reading an ebook, I didn't realize there was a glossary at the back of the book. Although it would have been helpful, the story's context made most foreign terms easy enough to understand.

I loved, loved, loved this! Usually mysteries aren’t my thing, but this had such great characters and one thing I like the most about great historical novels: that feeling of being transported to another place in time and getting lost there. Perveen Mistry is a strong female character based on a real person who seems true to her time and place. I enjoyed my trip with Perveen to 1920s Bombay and cannot wait for her next adventure!

I think this book is the start of a new series—or anyway, I hope it is, because I enjoyed it a lot. It’s set in 1920s Bombay, and centers on a young woman who is Bombay's first female lawyer (working for her awesome supportive lawyer father). Her gender comes in handy when some discrepancies pop up concerning a Muslim estate whose three widows live in purda (seclusion)—and then there’s a murder. This is all interspersed with flashbacks to a dark time in her past. She also has an English best friend from Oxford who is a not-so-secret lesbian. It’s one of those mysteries that is just as much about the characters and settings as it is the actual mystery plot, and I hope to see more of it soon. A-

THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL by Sujata Massey is a mystery story that appealed to me as much for the suspense as for its unique setting – early 20th century Bombay, India - and its clever, brave heroine, Preveen Mistry. She is the daughter of a prominent Bombay lawyer and therefore lives a life of privilege, but still she seeks justice and is naturally curious. The story, based in part on actual people, begins in 1921 with Preveen acting as Bombay's first female lawyer. She is working to help clarify the financial situation for three Muslim widows living in full purdah, or seclusion from men. Learning about the various cultural practices was fascinating and Massey did an excellent job of weaving the details into Preveen's efforts to keep the widows safe and solve a murder which occurred in their residence.

There are several flashbacks to 1916 which explain events in Preveen's own life that have reinforced her efforts to protect the rights of women. Booklist, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly all gave THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL a starred review and you can read an excerpt at this link. Somehow, I had not realized that Sujata Massey had written other award-winning mysteries and now certainly look forward to reading several of those titles as well as the next Preveen Mistry story.

Link in post: https://sohopress.com/books/the-widows-of-malabar-hill/

4.5 stars

Inspired by historical events, the author paints a picture of multicultural Bombay in the 1920s. This novel is about a woman lawyer who has a personal view of women's rights. She also is a likable and and intelligent sleuth.