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The Laetitia Rodd mysteries by Kate Saunders – starting with ‘The Secrets of Wishtide’, this series features a genteel Victorian lady detective who finds herself in reduced circumstances after her husband’s death.
The Lost Man of Bombay: The thrilling new mystery from the
Persis Wadia is the first female police officer in India. She works at Malabar House, home to misfits or policemen who have made career limiting mistakes. Persis is on duty on New Year's Eve in 1949 when a call comes in to investigate the murder of a prominent British official, Sir James Herriot, during a party he is hosting. His throat has been cut in his study in a compromising position, and his trousers are missing. Turns out, he has been asked to look into atrocities associated with the Partition (i.e., the contention establishment of Pakistan, based on religious beliefs.)There are a few anachronisms in the book. The first female police officer in the IPS was appointed in 1972. I can live with this time displacement since this book is a work of fiction. A more jarring note was the mention of Persis having a well thumbed copy of the novel Dr Zhivago, which was not published until 1957. This oversight is also a minor quibble but was personally jarring to me. I also wondered at the characterization of Persis.She is a well drawn character who is smart, perceptive, determined and exceedingly outspoken and blunt. At times, she seemed almost James Bond like in conception. I also wondered if she too easily navigated the glass ceiling and gender prejudice that would have been encountered in 1950. Much grittier than the cosy crime novels above, these writers can be relied upon to deliver brilliant police procedurals with a strong female detective. These are contemporary novels: An easy writing style which made this a compelling read, drawing on a historical time in the fledgling independent India. A beautifully complex plot and an Agatha Christie-ish denouement make for a thoroughly satisfying read, and a burning desire to see what's next for Persis * Observer *
MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE (THE MALABAR HOUSE SERIES) : Khan MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE (THE MALABAR HOUSE SERIES) : Khan
Profile". Vaseem Khan. May 2015. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016 . Retrieved 11 April 2016. Meet the debutants: hot summer reads by new novelists". London Evening Standard. 17 July 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016 . Retrieved 17 April 2016. 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?
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. It is painful to read about the sectarian violence of Partition and the typically ham-fisted solutions of the British (how many of the world's cultures have been carved up with straight edges and have wallowed in violence since the Empire left?). But since Partition happened several years before the action of the novel, I felt I could handle it. Isabelle Grey’s series about DI Grace Fisher starting with ‘Good Girls Don’t Die’. These have the bonus (for me) of being set in Essex – my birthplace! There is a lot to like in this book.Most notably, there is a wealth of information and history about the demise of the British Raj and the religious and secular conflicts that arose from the Partition of India. Much of the viewpoint is presented from an Indian point of view, which is a refreshing departure from a host of Anglo centric novels that have been written.
Midnight at Malabar House: Khan, Vaseem: 9781473685505 Midnight at Malabar House: Khan, Vaseem: 9781473685505
The plot is a direct retelling of a 90's Bollywood hit film Sarfarosh starring Amir Khan and Sonali Bendre. In the movie, the culprit is a Muslim, whereas here he's a Hindu. Spotlight on Vaseem Khan". University College London. 11 August 2015. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016 . Retrieved 13 April 2016. Finally, Persis is definitely not a Parsis at all. Parsis are the most decent,courteous humble, friendly and law abiding individuals. They have a distinct way of speaking - they speak Gujrati which isn't evident anywhere. The history and legend of how they were accepted and integrated into the Gujrati society is a lovely tale which again is missing. Parsis are a very closed society- in Bombay they live in gated colonies that are called Parsi Colonies. I couldn't picture Persis as a Parsi at all. She's not even close to being an Indian woman.
A compelling mystery set in a fascinating period in India's tumultuous history. Inspector Persis Wadia, the India's first female detective, is gutsy, stubborn and ideally suited to navigate both the complexities of a murder in Bombay's high society and the politics of a police force that want to see her fail. A stunning start to brand new series from one of the UK's finest writers." - M W Craven This is historical crime fiction at its best - a compelling mix of social insight and complex plotting with a thoroughly engaging heroine. A highly promising new series * Mail on Sunday * The story opens in Bombay on New Year’s Eve, 1949. Persis has been a detective at Malabar House, supposedly where all the unwanted or washed-up police end up, for six months. Top of her class at the academy, she is the only female police in India. She has pulled the midnight shift, and receives a summons to Laburnum House, residence of Sir James Herriot, found dead during his New Year’s party.
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