A Murder on Malabar Hill

By: Sujata Massey

Narrated by: Nandita Dubey

Bombay, 1921. Intrepid and intelligent, young Perveen Mistry joins her father's prestigious law firm to become one of India's first female lawyers. Her tumultuous past also makes her especially devoted to championing and protecting women's rights.

When Mistry Law is appointed to execute the will of Omar Farid, a wealthy mill owner, Perveen's suspicions are aroused by a curious provision which could disinherit Farid's three widows and leave them vulnerable. Are the Farid widows - who live in strict seclusion, never leaving the women's quarters or speaking to men - being duped by an unscrupulous guardian? Perveen decides to investigate, but when tensions escalate to murder, it becomes clear that her own life is in mortal peril and she will need to use everything in her power to outwit a dangerous criminal.

©2018 Sujata Massey (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Perveen Mistry is a rarity: a female solicitor in a bastion of masculinity! An astonishing heroine-fearless, intelligent and determined - she makes a memorable debut in Sujata Massey's A Murder on Malabar Hill. A gripping whodunnit, full of excitement and heart, the novel also delightfully evokes Bombay in the 1920s -a nd celebrates the Parsi community that continues to enrich their beloved city." (Bapsi Sidhwa, best-selling author of Ice-Candy-Man)

"A Murder on Malabar Hill is written in the mould of the classic locked-room sleuth.... Aided by her razor-sharp deductive skills and quick thinking, [Perveen] overcomes every obstacle-from the sneering condescension of men, British officials or Indian law-keepers, to the blight of a youthful marriage that continues to haunt her. Woven into this matrix of crime and justice is a social history of women's rights. From the pittance inherited by widows to the problems posed by traditions like the purdah in police investigations, Massey's novel combines keen detailing of historical fiction with the breezy pace of a whodunnit." (Mint)

"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." (Booklist)