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The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey, the latest book in the Perveen Mistry Investigates series, is set in pre-Independence India, has a clutch of interesting women characters, and draws the reader into a world that is enjoyably brush-stroked and focused at the same time.
This book follows A Murder on Malabar Hill, The Satapur Moonstone and The Bombay Prince. Massey is the author of 14 novels, two novellas and many short stories, and has won several literary awards, including the Agatha Award, Lefty and Macavity Awards, and the Mary Higgins Clark Prize.
The novel starts with the Who’s Who of 1920s Bombay society at a tea party. A ripe setting for a murder in a whodunnit, you’d think. What you get instead is a wonderfully detailed look at complex relationships within families and across class hierarchies, the goings-on in society, and the politics of the cultural milieu of the time.
The murder, when it does happen, almost doesn’t matter because by then, we are quite involved in this microcosm of a buzzing world.
Author Sujata Massey
| Photo Credit:
Chris Hartlove
A young woman working as a maid gets arrested on seemingly flimsy charges, and our heroine (Bombay’s only female solicitor) Perveen Mistry comes to the rescue. Perveen’s got a lot on her plate as it is, navigating a changed relationship with her sister-in-law, a judge who does not appreciate interactions in court with women, a forbidden romantic relationship, as well as a challenging case with a lot of potential suspects. However, she emerges (again) as a delightfully engaging protagonist.
Despite exploring difficult themes of class, caste, gender, abortion, and even postpartum depression, Massey does so with a light hand. There is no shying away from the realities of life but also, there is no wallowing in the problems that already exist. Perveen takes everything on, finds the going difficult at times, but gets down to resolving the issues she can as all smart, enterprising heroines must do.
All in all, I’d say, go on, put this book on your TBR list.
The Mistress of Bhatia House
Sujata Massey
Penguin Random House India
₹499
The reviewer is a Bengaluru-based author, journalist and manuscript editor.
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