[Massey] does an excellent job here intercutting the tale of Perveen's romantic courtship, ill-fated marriage and escape from Cyrus and his parents' strict Zoroastrian household in Calcutta with her quest for fair treatment of the three devout Muslim widows. As a result, the novel makes the complex religious and legal diversity of India understandable while illuminating the apparent divisions within religious groups whose members struggle between devotion to the old ways and those of the increasingly modernizing world ... Perveen's dogged pursuit of truth and justice for her clients is reminiscent of the debuts of Anne Perry's Charlotte Ellison Pitt and Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs. But the multicultural, multi-faith milieu in which Perveen lives, works and attempts to find love both illuminates a bygone era and offers a thoughtful perspective relevant to today's focus on women's rights and equality.
With compassion and understanding, Sujata Massey’s narrative shifts between Perveen’s anguished past and the plight of the widows, unveiling fascinating details about the complicated, dutiful lives of women in Bombay. Massey draws an especially poignant and ironic analogy between Perveen’s struggle to succeed against her culture’s misogyny while India struggles against the vestiges of its colonial rulers.
The story of the three widows and their children, who lead such an isolated existence in a bungalow on Malabar Hill Road, is parcelled out in tandem with Perveen's own story about a disastrous past she very nearly did not escape. Her tale is one that is just as absorbing as the murder mystery and has a quiet power all its own. Each thread is carefully paced; Massey clearly knows just what she's doing, which is giving readers both a captivating whodunit and a lasting base for more books featuring this same cast of characters.
Also taking place in the wake of World War I is Sujata Massey’s The Widows of Malabar Hill. This intriguing novel features Perveen Mistry, 'the only woman solicitor in Bombay.' The 23-year-old, Oxford-educated Perveen works (out of court) on behalf of her father’s clients, sometimes assuming the duties of an unofficial detective ... Ms. Massey, through adroit flashbacks, interweaves into the current mystery the saga of Perveen’s grim marital misadventure. The Widows of Malabar Hill, with its deft prose and well-wrought characters, is a splendid first installment in what promises to be a memorable series.
Massey writes naturally in the mystery genre. The crime plot holds up, with a clever, if possibly too subtle, twist at the end. But it is historically grounded moments that give the novel its rich appeal. The Widows of Malabar Hill is woven through with cultural insights, not only into the treatment of women in 1910s and 1920s India, but also into the quirks of British colonialism and the diversity of India’s religions ... Perveen is the kind of plucky, determined, practical, wounded, ahead-of-her-time protagonist an avid clique of mystery readers adore. She is destined to find a home with fans of like-minded female investigators such as Mary Russell and Maisie Dobbs, whose creators, like Massey, deftly anchor their solid plots in the realities, and challenges, of their times.
In addition to getting an unusual perspective on women’s rights and relationships, readers are treated to a full view of historical downtown Bombay—the shops and offices, the docks and old fort, and the huge variety of conveyances, characters, and religions—in an unforgettable olio that provides the perfect backdrop to the plot and subplots. Each of the many characters is uniquely described, flaws and all, which is the key to understanding their surprising roles in the well-constructed puzzle.
...[an] outstanding series launch ... The period detail and thoughtful characterizations, especially of the capable, fiercely independent lead, bode well for future installments.
