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Mr. Khan definitely doesn't know Mumbai/Bombay. The four streets he's mentioned still exist so no research needed. Vaseem Khan's new book is an absolute treat from start to finish. A satisfying murder mystery and a fascinating evocation of India just after Partition, it also introduces the clever, endearing (and somewhat stubborn) Detective Persis Wadia to the world. I'm already looking forward to her next case * Antonia Hodgson * 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." After five novels and two novellas in the Baby Ganesh Agency series, I am excited to reveal that my new book is a historical crime novel set in 1950 in India. It’s called MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE and introduces Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police, India’s first female police detective. The period is incredibly intriguing. It’s just after Indian Independence, the horrors of Partition and the assassination of Gandhi. Social and political turmoil is rife in the country. Yet Bombay remains cosmopolitan, with thousands of foreigners still in the city.
Midnight at Malabar House: Winner of the CWA Historical Midnight at Malabar House: Winner of the CWA Historical
I can highly recommend ‘Evil Things’ by Katja Ivar– her heroine, Inspector Hella Mauzer, is the first woman to be accepted into Helsinki’s Homicide Unit in 1940s Finland. The review is here. Persis Wadia in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ is India’s first police detective and pioneering women is definitely a trope I love in my crime fiction! The story is brilliant. It is 31 December 1949: India is a free country and all set to adopt itsConstitution in less than a month. Wadia receives a phone call in her police station: British diplomat James Herriot has been murdered in his room and his trousers are missing! Her investigation takes her in different directions: Bombay’s socialite circle that includes the last of the British elite, different episodes of Indian freedom struggle, and the Partition riots, or — to be precise—specific crimes among them. 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:
Review
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. And so, when the phone rings to report the murder of prominent English diplomat Sir James Herriot, the country's most sensational case falls into her lap. 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. Vaseem Khan's new book is an absolute treat from start to finish. A satisfying murder mystery and a fascinating evocation of India just after Partition, it also introduces the clever, endearing (and somewhat stubborn) Detective Persis Wadia to the world. I'm already looking forward to her next case." - Antonia Hodgson The violence and dislocation which accompanied independence is still very much a preoccupation in 1949, and Wadia still has unresolved issues to do with her mother’s death, something her father refuses to discuss. Right from the start, however, it is clear she is a fiercely combative character determined to carve a career despite a general opinion that a woman will not be up to it.
MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE (THE MALABAR HOUSE SERIES) : Khan MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE (THE MALABAR HOUSE SERIES) : Khan
Persis, a wonderful creation, keeps a clipping of the damning newspaper report on her desk, dismissing critics with ease. “For millennia, we have been told what our role must be: wife, mother, daughter. We are all those things, but we are so much more. Men like you think you can stop us. Go ahead and try. Have you ever tried to stop the monsoon?”The leading character is the deftly drawn Persis Wadia, the country’s first female detective. She’s a wonderful creation and this is a hugely enjoyable book’ ANN CLEEVES This was a very enjoyable historical mystery/police procedural. Set in the first days of 1950 with the consequences of Partition still churning, Persis, the first woman police officer in her country is tasked with a complicated and politically sensitive murder investigation. Her being the first woman is a major theme here and she's inundated with obstacles along the way but of course, she persists. Her colleagues, all male, were an interesting bunch and had surprises to the very end. I liked Persis and also the insight into her personal relationships with her family. She was determined and cared to find the truth, not just any answer served up to her for expedience. I adored the family bookstore her father maintained and her deep love for him. Even her Aunt Nussie was a good character with her overbearing ways. 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. Persis is determined to be a success in this new India, not so much for her own ambition or to honor the activist mother she lost when she was seven, but to make justice happen. She is ornery and speaks her mind too much, so it's a question whether she will be able to keep her job in the know-a-guy culture left over from colonialism.
Vaseem Khan - Wikipedia Vaseem Khan - Wikipedia
The leading character is the deftly drawn Persis Wadia, the country's first female detective. She's a wonderful creation and this is a hugely enjoyable book." - Ann Cleeves Those who have enjoyed the Baby Ganesh Agency novels will be interested to hear of a new series by author Vaseem Khan, again set in Bombay, but at an earlier date. We have a new cast of characters, revolving around Persis Wadia, India’s first female police detective. I'd read another by Khan and given that I realized when I reached the end of this that it's the beginning of a series, I suppose I will do. Bollywood is his constant source of inspiration. What would he do without this vast and free source at his fingertips? Shouldn't he show some originality? A GoodReads author I know thought this book sounded like my kind of thing, and she was right. It's a well-written mystery that introduced me to the culture of another country and a major moment in its history.There is a lot of potential to make this a series - like maybe breaking this book into 3 books for start. I can imagine writing a complete book is nothing short of achievement. And so the one additional star. Outstanding. I've always been a fan of Vaseem Khan but this latest offering is something special and something new. Vaseem is totally at the height of his powers with this novel which combines a flair for history, time and place with a genius for mystery. A novel for our times * Imran Mahmood * If you like your crime novels without forensic detail, then the following books and series may be of interest. Cosy crime isn’t a genre I read often, but I can personally recommend these! Knowing much less about Indian history and this period in particular, you'll probably be apt to like this far more than I did. The case itself holds several good twists but it really becomes too convoluted and also rather easy to decipher at the same time. While there are way too many characters running completely on feelings, sacrifice, passion and not just plain greed to make it at all probable for their placements. 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.
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