A MURDER AT MALABAR HILL by Sujata Massy

I have to admit I have a bias to books written by and/or about India, having lived there for a bit. Everything about India is complicated, contrary, disturbing, often impossible for Western eyes to understand or make sense of, but always intriguing and surprising with so much to discover and learn. And here is another to tempt me! This novel is the first in a series featuring a young woman lawyer in Mumbai during the 1920s. Perveen Mistry is the only female lawyer in Bombay at this time - seen as a novelty, a threat, a misfit, subject to prejudice, rudeness, spite. None of this is going to get her down, and working in her father's very established practice gives her considerable kudos and protection. Even though she is forbidden from working in court, she is a valuable asset to the firm for her investigative skills, her ability to talk with and listen to clients.

This becomes particularly handy when the firm is engaged to investigate a suspicious will on the behalf of three widows living in full purdah in a large house on Malabar Hill. The dead man, husband to all three women, was a valued client of the firm, and when Perveen notices something unusual in the will, she begins digging. Being female of course gives her considerable advantage, because she is the only person that is able to interview, meet with and so gain the confidence of the three widows. It becomes clear quite quickly that something very underhand has taken place, and we are soon in the middle of a whodunnit, with Perveen finding herself in some danger.

On starting this novel, I thought I was going to be reading something light, bit frivolous  - zealous and earnest young woman taking on the baddies - very Nancy Drew. . But  I misjudged - never judge a book by its cover, no matter how enticing and attractive. A sinister element creeps in to Perveen's life in the first few pages, we learn that she has graduated from Oxford University - a highly unusual status for any woman in the 1920s, let alone a young woman from India. Her closest friend from her Oxford days happens to the be the daughter of a very high ranking British official living in Bombay, her friendship with Perveen leading to considerable social issues with her friend's parents.

From the beginning I was wondering how does a young Parsi girl from a deeply religious and conservative sect of Indian society go to Oxford University by herself, get a degree, come back and work in her chosen field in the 1920s? As I said earlier this is a country full of surprises. The appearance of that troublesome character in the first few pages takes Perveen back some years earlier when a marriage is being arranged for her. This does not go well, in fact it goes very badly. The author has tapped into the underbelly of much of conservative religious India, highlighting the often appalling treatment that young women, seen simply as possessions of their families to be sold off, suffer from in the marriages made on their behalf. Even though Perveen's parents are educated, cultured and sophisticated in Western ways, they too fall victim to the ancient rituals and ways of doing things their religion and unique culture demands. The three widows Perveen is helping are also victims of the society they are born into.

So we have here a good story, well told, but also with considerable social commentary on the state of women in India. This may be set in the 1920s, and things have improved enormously for women in India in the decades since, but we must never lose sight of how women in many many societies and cultures continue to be suppressed and controlled by the men who supposedly love them.

I see now that there is a second Perveen Mistry novel - can't wait to read that - no more Nancy Drew for me!