*** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER 2020, and an INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER ***‘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 is historical crime fiction at its best – a compelling mix of social insight and complex plotting with a thoroughly … insight and complex plotting with a thoroughly engaging heroine. A highly promising new series’ MAIL ON SUNDAY
Bombay, New Year’s Eve, 1949
As India celebrates the arrival of a momentous new decade, Inspector Persis Wadia stands vigil in the basement of Malabar House, home to the city’s most unwanted unit of police officers. Six months after joining the force she remains India’s first female police detective, mistrusted, sidelined and now consigned to the midnight shift.
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.
As 1950 dawns and India prepares to become the world’s largest republic, Persis, accompanied by Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, finds herself investigating a case that is becoming more political by the second. Navigating a country and society in turmoil, Persis, smart, stubborn and untested in the crucible of male hostility that surrounds her, must find a way to solve the murder – whatever the cost.
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I love historical mysteries because the history adds another layer to the story and can become a character itself. This book begins on New Year’s Eve of 1949–India has gained independence and is recovering from the violence surrounding the India / Pakistan Partition. Persis Wadia, the first female police detective in India, takes the call when a prominent British man has been murdered in his home during a New Year’s party. Persis works at Malabar House, a police station where the misfits and disgraced police officers end up. She begins the investigation, determined to uncover the truth, no matter how uncomfortable. Her cool intelligence (which masks a woman of deep emotion) and logical conclusions dig into scandal and India’s painful past. Her best assistant is an awkward but brilliant British criminalist (forensics investigator), who helps Persis solve the crime. The author gives us a tiny hint of a budding romance between them, which throws humor into an otherwise somber story. I look forward to learning more about Persis, her investigations, and life with her father, owner of a rare book bookshop in Mumbai.
Great read – love the heroine!
Read 7.13.2020
“That is the true legacy of Partition, The way it has coloured the perceptions of two peoples who were essentially one, the way it continues to serve as a means by which political interests on both sides of the border can employ hatred and prejudice as a means of deflecting criticism of their regimes.
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.”
-Vaseem Khan
Oh my gosh I love how this man writes. He could write brochures and I would read them because they’d be the best brochures out there. So when I saw that he has a new series out [after being wildly disappointed that it wasn’t a new Inspector Chopra book, as I ADORE that series and have learned so much about India by reading them], I decided to request the ARC and was thrilled to receive it. And boy was I NOT disappointed. THIS is going to be a great series, I can just feel it.
The setting is Bombay, 3 years after Partition and on the cusp of official Independence for India. Persis Wadia is the first female police officer, and to be frank, she has a huge chip on her shoulder. She is young and eager to prove her mettle in a world that thinks that she doesn’t belong and cannot do her job [more than once in this book, she hears “YOU do not belong here” from both her colleagues and from the people she has to interview while investigating the murder – its a bitter pill]. Add that people are willing to lie at any cost, and to cover each other’s tracks, and her job gets harder with each day. Aided by a British Forensic Scientist [Archie Blackfinch] – who she isn’t sure if she even LIKES, she sets off to solve the murder that lands in her lap on New Years Eve, no matter what. And WHAT a story it is. And right before the reveal, I realized who it was and was shocked. I never saw it coming. It was very satisfying and very well done.
A note here – if you are unfamiliar with India’s history, I would highly suggest reading up on the Colonialism of India by Britain and then reading up on Partition and what happened during that time and what it meant for India and its people. Because if you go in with little to no knowledge, you will be spending a LOT of time looking things up because both of those topics are vital to the story. I have read quite a few books about India, set in India or Pakistan and I still learned stuff I didn’t know. So I would suggest reading something, even if it is to give yourself a refresher course via Google or Wikipedia.
I highly recommend this book and I am so looking forward for this series to continue.
Thank you to NetGalley, Vaseem Khan, and Hodder and Stoughton for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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.
I enjoyed learning more about the situations in post-WWII India. A good plot and characters.
A great historical period that most Americans no little about.
An exotic location and unusual detective make this an interesting read with the added benefit of learning a little about the history of India following independence from Britain and the partition
A flawed protagonist and an unpredictable, interesting plot wrapped in a fascinating view of India and its separation from Britain, blending in overt racism all around. What is not to like? This book was a fast, thoroughly enjoyable, challenging read. Vaseem Khan has created a strong, intelligent, articulate first ever female police detective. I cannot wait to read more of his books and especially more concerning Persis Wadia
This was a very original and charming book. After visiting India a few years ago the country and it’s beliefs have fascinated me. I loved learning the backstory of individuals when separation occurred and attitudes toward historic figures. Perisi is a wonderful figure…smart, determined, compassionate. I look forward to seeing more of her and her compatriots in the future. Just a great story and author.
Great read!
Persis is the first female detective in the Bombay police force, in this prickly novel set just after Partition. Persis herself, brought up in a bookshop, is socially awkward and professionally ambitious. The writing is of high quality (though I wasn’t sure about an onion skin unravelling) and there is a great deal of interest about the political situation and recent history, the ambiguities of a recently-liberated country and its relationship with its late overlords. Some of the plot reviews are a little repetitious and there were a few bits I didn’t feel were fully explained, but I liked the Christie-esque gathering of the suspects at the end and the overall explanation. A promising start to a series.
This is the first in a series about Malabar House, a depository for many out-of- favor Indian policeman, yet the first assignment for Persis, India’s first female policewoman. The author, Vaseem Kahn, is perhaps most well known as the author of the Baby Ganesh Agency mysteries; in these, the protagonist is a male policeman who partners with a baby elephant. Though Persis does not have the nose of Ganesh, she does have a superior nose for sleuthing.
She is assigned, as her first case, a high profile murder of an apparently wealthy Englishman, a case so sensitive that she was given it, as a neophyte and a woman, with the expectancy she would fail to solve it.
As she proceeds to defy all odds and obstacles in pursuing the case, Mr. Khan gives us a pretty good introduction to the long history of English colonialism and particularly the harm that the arbitrary partitioning of the country caused after WWII, working it into the story quite seamlessly. I congratulate them both.
It will not spoil the ending to say she does solve the murder. Trust me —have I ever lied to you?
J. Clark, 2021
Gets a bit bogged down with India’s history of partition. but it’s got an interesting main character with all the prejudices of being the first female in India’s police force. I look forward to reading more in this series.
I enjoyed the writing, the characters, and the story. It is set in India during the beginning of their independence from Great Britain and is full of interesting references to living conditions and politics of the time. I enjoyed the mystery part and especially enjoyed learning about that era.
Loved the way it wove history of Indian independence from Britain with a good mystery.