Meet the debutants: hot summer reads by new novelists". London Evening Standard. 17 July 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016 . Retrieved 17 April 2016. The cast do not perhaps have the immediate appeal of Ganesh and his human family which gives that series so much charm, but the interaction between Wadia and Archie seems to have plenty of potential for future adventures. After five novels and two novellas in the Baby Ganesh Agency series, I am excited to reveal that my new book is a historical crime novel set in 1950 in India. It’s called MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE and introduces Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police, India’s first female police detective. The period is incredibly intriguing. It’s just after Indian Independence, the horrors of Partition and the assassination of Gandhi. Social and political turmoil is rife in the country. Yet Bombay remains cosmopolitan, with thousands of foreigners still in the city. The story is brilliant. It is 31 December 1949: India is a free country and all set to adopt itsConstitution in less than a month. Wadia receives a phone call in her police station: British diplomat James Herriot has been murdered in his room and his trousers are missing! Her investigation takes her in different directions: Bombay’s socialite circle that includes the last of the British elite, different episodes of Indian freedom struggle, and the Partition riots, or — to be precise—specific crimes among them. Loving Indian locale and fiction as much as I do, this one just barely made the cut. NO Thrity Umigar here.

Midnight at Malabar House - Goodreads Midnight at Malabar House - Goodreads

Persis Wadia in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ is India’s first police detective and pioneering women is definitely a trope I love in my crime fiction! 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.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.

Midnight at Malabar House | Vaseem Khan Midnight at Malabar House | Vaseem 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 * 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! Flushing, she cursed herself for not having considered this. The idea of appearing incompetent bothered her far more than being murdered or assaulted in the line of duty, a gruesome eventuality that Aunt Nussie predicted on a daily basis. 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 The violence and dislocation which accompanied independence is still very much a preoccupation in 1949, and Wadia still has unresolved issues to do with her mother’s death, something her father refuses to discuss. Right from the start, however, it is clear she is a fiercely combative character determined to carve a career despite a general opinion that a woman will not be up to it.Sometimes simplicity is so underrated. This book makes you feel the publishing house could have told the author - keep it simple. The reader can feel the eagerness of the author in creating sub plots that impose the value system of today on the past. I do like a gritty crime novel and modern forensics, but sometimes a slightly gentler approach is desirable, as in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’.

MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE (THE MALABAR HOUSE SERIES) : Khan MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE (THE MALABAR HOUSE SERIES) : Khan

Midnight at Malabar House’ is set in India in 1950. For another excellent historical crime series, I can highly recommend the Captain Wyndham and Surrender-not Banerjee series by Abir Mukherjee set in the India of the 1920s. It’s definitely worth starting with ‘The Rising Man’ as the first book in this 4 book series – ‘Death in the East’ (Book 4) was published this year and my review (no spoilers) is here. It is a beautifully written exploration of Wadia's struggle to be accepted as a detective in a male-dominated culture, while navigating a country in turmoil. A thrilling murder mystery, it also wonderfully evokes a turbulent period of India's history * Daily Express * Vaseem Khan's new book is an absolute treat from start to finish. A satisfying murder mystery and a fascinating evocation of India just after Partition, it also introduces the clever, endearing (and somewhat stubborn) Detective Persis Wadia to the world. I'm already looking forward to her next case." - Antonia Hodgson 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 *

Summary

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. 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. Knowing much less about Indian history and this period in particular, you'll probably be apt to like this far more than I did. The case itself holds several good twists but it really becomes too convoluted and also rather easy to decipher at the same time. While there are way too many characters running completely on feelings, sacrifice, passion and not just plain greed to make it at all probable for their placements. Plot is interesting, keeps you hooked on to it throughout as the trauma of partition unrolls itself before the readers. Repetition seemed the only irksome thing about the book, as I felt that the author wants to stuff the information into the reader’s mind by repeating it a good ten times. Besides, the long and melodramatic stretches could have been avoided, because the book seemed good with a Bollywood touch to it (but you can’t complain as the settings of the novel screamed for the touch of the city of dreams i-e: Bombay). Finally, Persis is definitely not a Parsis at all. Parsis are the most decent,courteous humble, friendly and law abiding individuals. They have a distinct way of speaking - they speak Gujrati which isn't evident anywhere. The history and legend of how they were accepted and integrated into the Gujrati society is a lovely tale which again is missing. Parsis are a very closed society- in Bombay they live in gated colonies that are called Parsi Colonies. I couldn't picture Persis as a Parsi at all. She's not even close to being an Indian woman.

Midnight at Malabar House (The Malabar House Series): Khan Midnight at Malabar House (The Malabar House Series): Khan

Bollywood is his constant source of inspiration. What would he do without this vast and free source at his fingertips? Shouldn't he show some originality? Malabar House is the location of the district police force. It has served as a dead-end transfer for police officers unwanted elsewhere for a variety of reasons. This could be due to mistakes, incompetence, bad behaviour, or simply not fitting in with commanding officers. Persis, a wonderful creation, keeps a clipping of the damning newspaper report on her desk, dismissing critics with ease. “For millennia, we have been told what our role must be: wife, mother, daughter. We are all those things, but we are so much more. Men like you think you can stop us. Go ahead and try. Have you ever tried to stop the monsoon?” The stabbing of an English gentleman at a New Year's Eve party in the early hours of 1950 sounds like a Golden Age murder mystery, and Murder at Malabar House has all the suspects, twists and red herrings that we'd expect. But this is India, just after partition, and 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 *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 Laetitia Rodd mysteries by Kate Saunders – starting with ‘The Secrets of Wishtide’, this series features a genteel Victorian lady detective who finds herself in reduced circumstances after her husband’s death. Five teenagers set off into the woods to find their missing friend, Sadie. The police have mounted a huge search, but the friends – Abi, Sadie’s boyfriend Mason, Cora, Fash and Luke, Sadie’s twin brother – think they’re looking in the wrong place, and may well know more than they’re letting on. She is on duty for New Year’s Eve at Malabar House, home to one of the city’s less-favoured crime units, when a report is received of the murder of a diplomat, Sir James Herriot. The death occurred in Herriot’s study while a ball he was hosting for the wealthy and well-connected was in progress downstairs.