Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our March/April buddy read of The Widows of Malabar Hill, published in 2018 and the start of a new series.

Bombay, 1921: Perveen Mistry, the daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father's law firm, becoming one of the first female lawyers in India. Armed with a law degree from Oxford, Perveen also has a tragic personal history that makes her especially devoted to championing and protecting women's legal rights. Inspired in part by a real woman who made history by becoming India's first female lawyer, The Widows of Malabar Hill is a richly wrought story of multicultural 1920s Bombay as well as the debut of a sharp and promising new sleuth, Perveen Mistry.

The second book in the series: The Satapur Moonstone is due for release in May this year.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

The mystery I thought was well done. However, I was not really interested in Perveen's romance or sex-life. Because of this I thought the book was at least 100 pages too long. I felt the author had thrown in as many different subjects she could think of. Besides the romance and sex of the main character , we had bullying, lesbianism, politics and probably more.
We knew from the book's blurb that Perveen became a lawyer, and as a female she would have lots of obstacles put in her way to achieve that, so the beginning was expected, and the fact that she was a woman turned out to an asset.

I would agree with that, Jill. I thought the whole Cyrus storyline was really pretty dull...

I never was interested in any of the characters lives, with, perhaps, the exception of the eavesdropping daughter, so I found it a bit dull. And I was so looking forward to Bombay in the 20's.

Was there a large flaw in the ending? The body was found in a room with a partition to talk to the wives, but the passage led to his bedroom. Doubt if these were the same room and I don't remember any talk of the body being moved. Is there an explanation I missed? I was rather skimming after awhile (see above comment).

Good point, I was getting muddled and skimmed the end - I enjoyed Perveen and family, but the mystery left a bit to be desired.

Susan wrote: "I would agree with that, Jill. I thought the whole Cyrus storyline was really pretty dull..."

Yes, I wasn’t a huge fan of the switching between 1916, and her miserable marriage, and 1921, as she’s practicing law with her father. It was obvious things were going to end badly with Cyrus, it was just a matter of when and how - I think it was meant to show why Perveen was so dedicated to protecting women and their rights, having been in a bad situation herself, but I couldn’t help thinking it could have been done more concisely. As is, it took away from the mystery a bit.

Hey! This just popped up on my feed.

Overall, I liked this book, but there are a lot of moving parts involved - relationship with father
- relationship with mother
- relationship with Cyrus and spousal abuse
- relationship with in-laws
- relationship between British occupying India and Indians
- attitudes towards women / gender roles in India and England
- relationships between people of different religions in India
- life in India

Oh yeah, and a murder-mystery!

By touching on all of these topics, the story became a bit muddled, and I agree, it could have been more concise.

This is the first book in the series, and it had a lot of work to do introducing the characters and filling the reader in on the back story. Describing Bombay and Oxford, and jumping back and forth between places and times took up a lot of words.

I really liked Perveen, and the mystery was good, too. I have the next book, but have not started it yet. The Satapur Moonstone

Sandy wrote: "Was there a large flaw in the ending? The body was found in a room with a partition to talk to the wives, but the passage led to his bedroom. Doubt if these were the same room and I don't remember ..."

I was a little confused at this point with the layout and didn't bother to work out whether it was plausible.

Jill wrote: "The mystery I thought was well done. However, I was not really interested in Perveen's romance or sex-life. Because of this I thought the book was at least 100 pages too long. I felt the author had..."

While I didn't care as much for Perveen's romance as such-the fact that this segment showed us some of life in the Parsi community back then (the wedding, also the regressive practices) kept me interested in this thread of the story.

I think, to be honest, the author needed to decide where she was going with the novel. Was it historical fiction, or was it a mystery? She tried to do both and ended up with something of a confused muddle.

For someone so seemingly intelligent, Perveen also seemed to have a propensity to both jump into things without thinking and to give up fairly easily, as she did at the university, in the beginning of the novel. The storyline with Alice also made it all just seem as though she wanted to tackle too much, all at once.

I was interested in the Parsi community, not least as one of my closest friends is a Parsi, so that was a nice detail, and I liked the setting However, I do think that, overall, this did not work very well. Perhaps she will pull it together in the second novel, but I am not, to be honest, overly keen to find out.

What did people think of Purdah and of the way it was practiced in the novel?

Susan wrote: "I think, to be honest, the author needed to decide where she was going with the novel. Was it historical fiction, or was it a mystery? She tried to do both and ended up with something of a confused..."

That's actually true-the parallel storyline doesn't weave well with the main mystery thread to make a coherent whole.

The Alice story and the backstory will probably be continued in book 2, that might give us a better idea of where that is going.

Sorry that it didn't work for you.

Well, it happens. I must admit that I didn't much enjoy it, but I liked the description of the storyline. It looked more promising than it turned out to be.

Susan wrote: "I think, to be honest, the author needed to decide where she was going with the novel. Was it historical fiction, or was it a mystery? She tried to do both and ended up with something of a confused..."

I agree - way to many threads flapping in the wind demanding to be tied up. Took away from the book, overall.

And because I read this a little while ago, I had actually forgotten about Alice! Too many things to remember. I did like the emphasis on charity though.

I think the author tried to do too much with this. What I found most interesting was the different marriage laws and that they were applied according to the people's religion.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I think the author tried to do too much with this. What I found most interesting was the different marriage laws and that they were applied according to the people's religion."

Yes, that seemed like a bureaucratic nightmare!

I did manage to finish this book & agree with pretty much all of the points above.

I'm not a fan of going back & forth between timelines at the best of times. Especially in the first half I felt just as I was getting invested in the story - flashback!. Or flashforward! Since this was obviously going to be the first book in a series, I think it might have been better to have Perveen's story revealed over the course of several books - sort of like Sue Grafton did with Kinsey Milhouse. I think part of the reason Massey did this was there wasn't much of a mystery about the murder - not many suspects.

What I did like was Perveen's own character & I think Ms Massey may make a better job of the sequels.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "What I did like was Perveen's own character & I think Ms Massey may make a better job of the sequels. "

I think the good characterization is why I liked this.

Is anyone planning to read the sequel? I must admit that I am not desperate to do so.

Susan wrote: "Is anyone planning to read the sequel? I must admit that I am not desperate to do so."

If my local library gets it I might. But like you, I won't be in any rush.

I do because I ended up liking it quite a bit--the setting and the peek into Parsi customs and such.

I do, because I like many of the characters and my library has it. Also, I’d be curious to see if the writing and plotting tightens up without the flashbacks (not a fan). But, it probably won’t be for awhile- too many other books in line first!

I doubt I will as there are too many other books I'm eager to read.

Susan wrote: "Is anyone planning to read the sequel? I must admit that I am not desperate to do so."

I am planning to read it, but will probably wait until April.

I agree - the time-flash world-building dump was my least favorite thing about the book.

I hope to not let too much time pass before reading her again.

Mixed responses, but it seems that a few of us will. If anyone reads the sequel, report back and let us know what you think of the second in the series?

Susan wrote: "Mixed responses, but it seems that a few of us will. If anyone reads the sequel, report back and let us know what you think of the second in the series?"

Sure- I will. I think it comes out in May. Haven't seen this on NetGalley so far.

Lady Clementina wrote: "Susan wrote: "Mixed responses, but it seems that a few of us will. If anyone reads the sequel, report back and let us know what you think of the second in the series?"

Sure- I will. I think it comes out in May. Haven't seen this on NetGalley so far."

The Satapur Moonstone is on Netgalley now with a listed publication date of 14 May 2019, and an archive date of 21 May 2019. I was lucky enough to get an ARC. Reading this thread has made me want to get started on it.

Critterbee❇ wrote: "Lady Clementina wrote: "Susan wrote: "Mixed responses, but it seems that a few of us will. If anyone reads the sequel, report back and let us know what you think of the second in the series?"

Sure..."
Let us know how you like it. It doesn't seem to have made it to the UK NetGalley yet.

The Satapur Moonstone starts off a little bit jerky, but so far there have been no time jumps/flashbacks/flashforwards, and Perveen seems a lot more confident. Raises hope that the in-depth character development in the first book was just a one-off, to establish Perveen's character and world.

At 20%, I am enjoying this a lot. The mystery is intriguing, and there is some interesting info about the governing methods of what are called "Princely States" and how they interact with "British India."

Perveen is so sharp - and very analytical. Everything she encounters, from how people interact to ancient traditions, is considered, searched for hidden meaning or morality, and cataloged for later reference.

So far, a very good read, and less disjointed than the first book.

Critterbee❇ wrote: "Raises hope that the in-depth character development in the first book was just a one-off, to establish Perveen's character and world. "

This would be so sad if Massey foregoes the good charcterizations in the sequel.

Critterbee❇ wrote: "The Satapur Moonstone starts off a little bit jerky, but so far there have been no time jumps/flashbacks/flashforwards, and Perveen seems a lot more confident. Raises hope that the ..."

Yay! I was looking forward to trying out book 2, maybe as a summertime read (my library has it on order).

Critterbee❇ wrote: "The Satapur Moonstone starts off a little bit jerky, but so far there have been no time jumps/flashbacks/flashforwards, and Perveen seems a lot more confident. Raises hope that the ..."

Good to hear that. I'm looking forward to picking this up.

Critterbee❇ wrote: "The Satapur Moonstone starts off a little bit jerky, but so far there have been no time jumps/flashbacks/flashforwards, and Perveen seems a lot more confident. Raises hope that the ..."

This sounds promising.

Yes, thanks for posting.

I've just finished this one and really liked it - I liked Perveen a lot and enjoyed the flashback structure. I thought the background story of her marriage was compelling, although I agree with the comments in this thread that these parts were more historical fiction than crime.

It all worked really well for me and I am eager to read the next book.