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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 Also due out on 20th August is the brilliant ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ by Vaseem Khan – the final book in my week of 20th August releases. I really hope this book marks the start of a new series by Vaseem Khan. It's a great story and one book featuring the indefatigable and charming Inspector Wadia is simply not enough! A compelling mystery set in a fascinating period in India's tumultuous history. Inspector Persis Wadia, the India's first female detective, is gutsy, stubborn and ideally suited to navigate both the complexities of a murder in Bombay's high society and the politics of a police force that want to see her fail. A stunning start to brand new series from one of the UK's finest writers * M.W. Craven * The Board: The Crime Writers' Association". The Crime Writers’ Association. 28 June 2023 . Retrieved 19 August 2023. This is historical crime fiction at its sharpest, set on the brink of independence and during a dramatic period of the subcontinent's history * The Sunday Times *
Midnight at Malabar House (The Malabar House Series): Khan Midnight at Malabar House (The Malabar House Series): Khan
A beautifully complex plot and an Agatha Christie-ish denouement make for a thoroughly satisfying read, and a burning desire to see what's next for Persis * Observer * I do like a gritty crime novel and modern forensics, but sometimes a slightly gentler approach is desirable, as in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’. 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 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.Author Vaseem Khan chooses to create a very Hercule Poirot climactic scene in a church parlor, where, with the assistance of her British not-quite-beau, Persis succeeds in a ruse to gather a remarkably large group of Indian and British suspects hiding secrets that may or may not be relevant. 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:
Midnight at Malabar House” by Vaseem Khan “Midnight at Malabar House” by Vaseem Khan
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. The story opens in Bombay on New Year’s Eve, 1949. Persis has been a detective at Malabar House, supposedly where all the unwanted or washed-up police end up, for six months. Top of her class at the academy, she is the only female police in India. She has pulled the midnight shift, and receives a summons to Laburnum House, residence of Sir James Herriot, found dead during his New Year’s party. 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." 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! 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.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.
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