The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata MasseyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The setting is Bombay and Calcutta between 1916-1921. Preveen Mistry is one of the first female solicitors (lawyers) in India. By Indian law, she is not permitted to try cases in court, but she works with her father, an esteemed lawyer in Bombay. Omar Farid, a long-term client of her father has died and left three widows. These widows live in isolation and cannot come in contact with men, so it falls to Perveen to talk to them and discover why they have left their inheritance to a charity.
This book is part mystery and part historical fiction. Someone in the Farid household is murdered and a child a missing. Perveen questions everyone, investigates, and assists the local police. More riveting than the mystery is the historical information about the role of women in India in the early 20th century. It is amazing how they were treated and the expectation that their fathers or husbands would make decisions for them in all aspects of their lives.
I read this as a Kindle book, which was very helpful in getting the definitions of many of the Indian terms. When I finished the book, I discovered a glossary in the back; it would have been much more helpful if the publisher had put it in the front so the reader would be aware of it! There are two maps showing various portions of Bombay, so it’s easy to see where the action takes place. This is the first in a series of four books.
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