Happy to find this novel available for request on NetGalley. This is a really fine series. Owing to the excellent choice of setting, character and plot it is much more than a mystery book with exotic dressing. The commentary on women’s role and historical contributions, the history of India’s fight for independence, the role of police, journalists, academics and royalty are all parsed through the tale of a grisly murder. Cannot wait for #4 to appear!

In the third volume of the marvelous Perveen Mistry series, the doughty Parsi barrister continues to placidly pursue her career in 1920s India in the face of male confusion that a woman could even be in that profession. In this case, a woman studying at a local college asks for a legal consultation. She is involved in a student group advocating for independence, and is concerned about an upcoming visit of the Prince of Wales. She does not want to signal her support of colonial rule, but students will be expected to cheer him as he passes by the college. When the prince makes his procession through Bombay, protests break out and violence follows. In the confusion, Perveen learns the young student who consulted her has died after falling from a window. It appears likely she was pushed, though college officials resist any interpretation that it was a homicide.

As usual, Massey does a brilliant job of bringing the time and place to life. Perveen is in a tricky spot. She supports Gandhi and the movement for independence, but as a Parsi is seen as beneficiary of colonial rule by some of the protesters. She has to navigate a violence-torn city and a family whose loss is paired with distrust of the system. It takes quite a lot of skill for Perveen to put the pieces together and solve the case.

For some reason I found this entry a bit less captivating than the first two in the series; I think we had less time to know the victim and her circumstances, but it also may have simply been my own state of distraction.. Perveen is a wonderful character, and makes us welcome in 1920s India without ever succumbing to exoticism or tour-guide exposition. One of the best new series to be launched in recent years.

Another stunner in this series. As someone who has spent time in India, I love being enveloped in a bygone era, and then have the mysteries be intertwined with the culture. A winning combo every time!

I loved rejoining Perveen Mistry, and I especially enjoyed watching the interactions between her and her father in this series entry. They ring true: the elder Mistry who is so proud and encouraging of his daughter, but at the same time so much a product of his time and culture. The pleasingly complex mystery and the fascinating setting continue to make this one of my favorite historical mystery series. Side note: Massey refers to a historical event that is the subject of Nev March's Murder in Old Bombay. A fun connection between books.
Review based on an ARC received through NetGalley.

I love this series, I love seeing a writer like Sujata Massey, who wrote a lengthy series set in Japan, break out with books that obviously are a passion for her. Set in India just before independence, her series heroine Perveen Mistry works in her father’s law firm. At the time, she was the only female lawyer in Bombay, allowed to settle contracts and wills but not allowed to argue in court. Perveen, along with her buddy Alice Hodgson-Jones, graduated from Oxford, though at that time women were not granted a degree.

In the first book, The Widows of Malabar Hill, Massey creates Perveen’s origin story; in the second, The Satapur Moonstone, she sends Perveen on an adventure in the jungle; and in this one, the most traditional of the three, Perveen ends up solving a crime a bit closer to home. As the book opens, Perveen is visited by a young woman, Freny Cuttingmaster, who asks Perveen if her college can expel her for not attending the parade for the Prince of Wales, who is coming for a visit. Freny is secretly part of a group advocating for Indian independence. Perveen ultimately advises her to feign illness and stay home, but Freny, a devout Parsi, refuses to tell a falsehood of any kind.

This book addresses two issues: one, the burgeoning fight for independence from the British, led by Gandhi, and, as always in these novels, a reflection on the place of the female in society. Perveen is constantly pushing boundaries, and constantly wondering if what she is doing is the right thing or the necessary one. Her thought process can inform your own thought process, which is a real gift to the reader on Massey’s part. From her work to her romantic life, Perveen’s world should be proscribed by custom and she is fighting that on every level. The real miracle here is the fact that the books don’t seem jarring. Perveen seems like a woman who functioned in 1920’s India. She’s just a bit of ahead of her time and struggling with it.

The tragedy of this novel occurs as the Prince of Wales passes by the college. Perveen has joined Alice in the viewing stands, and she’s looking out for Freny, wondering is she’d been bold enough to skip this parade. Sadly Freny is discovered dead shortly after the parade, an apparent suicide. She had fallen from an upper floor in one of the college buildings.

Perveen is sure Freny’s death is not a suicide, and she steps in as an advocate at the inquest for Freny’s parents, with the blessing of her father who accompanies her to court and lets her speak for the Cuttingmasters. It’s the first time she’s spoken in the courtroom.

One of the things that makes this series a standout is the setting, the details of the Parsi culture and of Bombay as a whole. It’s an immersive reading experience. Another stand out aspect is the emotion that Massey brings out in her readers. Two of the most powerful passages in this novel involve emotion, as well as serving the story. In one, the Cuttingmasters, who have now lost both of their children, react to Freny’s death; and in the other, a depiction of the eruption of feelings brought about by the Prince of Wales’ visit as one student stands in his way and protests, vividly brings to mind the protests that occurred in our own country in the summer of 2020 as so many in our country fought (and continue to fight) for racial justice While Massey is illuminating a different struggle, this reflection of what we are actually living through at the moment makes it all the more powerful.

As I said, I’m a fan. The mystery part is tricky and well thought out, and while Perveen puts herself in needless danger at the end, I relished the denouement. This is a series of books no reader should miss.