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!
The story opens on New Year's Eve, 1949 in Bombay. As the clock ticks over into a new decade of Indian independence, Inspector Wadia is called in to investigate the murder of an important British diplomat, Sir James Herriot. Initially, it seems that Inspector Persis Wadia has been called precisely because no-one has any faith in her to actually solve the crime (she is India's first female police officer), or in the bunch of misfits she works with at Malabar House. However, she is determined to prove her worth and unwilling to give in until she has uncovered the truth.
It's this determination that makes the pioneering Inspector Wadia such an interesting character. She really has the odds stacked against her, but uses her intelligence, humour and sheer bloody-mindedness to take on an extremely politically sensitive case - Khan does not skimp on the history of India and Empire that have led to this precarious situation so there is plenty of explanation for those of us less well-versed in the politics. However, the book is far from being simply a history lesson - in Persis Wadia, we are treated to a very human and realistic character grappling admirably with a situation way beyond her control. We see her own struggles - including her strained relationship with her father and a rather sweet and inept flirtation with another investigator - and like her all the more for it.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes historical crime fiction with plenty of heart. The setting is interesting, the characters are engaging and the plot is well-constructed. You - like me - will end the book wondering what is next for Inspector Wadia and very much looking forward to finding out.
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
You can see the week’s previous reviews here:
‘A Little London Scandal’ by Miranda Emmerson
‘The Killings at Kingfisher Hill’ by Sophie Hannah
‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward
‘Eight Detectives’ by Alex Pavesi
As I’d already reviewed ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ on this blog – above is a copy of my previous review – as a bonus, I thought I’d suggest a few other books that you’d like if ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ sounds like your kind of thing!
Feature: Set in India in the past
‘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.
Feature: Pioneering female detectives
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!
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.
https://thequickandtheread.net/the-ghost-tree-by-mrc-kasasian/Another woman in a man’s policing world is Inspector Betty Church. In MRC Kasasian’s funny and fairly cosy historical crime series, Betty is the only woman in a dead-end police job in Sackwater, Suffolk. Like Persis in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’, Betty has been sidelined because of her gender and has to deal with the collection of misfits she has been assigned to work with. This humorous series starts with ‘Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire’ – a review of the latest book in the series (‘The Ghost Tree’) can be found here.
Feature: A good murder mystery (but not too gory!)
I do like a gritty crime novel and modern forensics, but sometimes a slightly gentler approach is desirable, as in ‘Midnight at Malabar House’.
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 Holmes and Hudson series by Martin Davies – starting with ‘Mrs Hudson and the Spirit’s Curse’, this series draws on the premise that Mrs Hudson is the true brains behind Baker Street’s famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. A gentle and funny series set in Victorian London.
- Jessica Fellowes’ series beginning with ‘The Mitford Murders’ – a series of Golden Age-style murder mysteries in which the investigations are connected to the Mitford sisters in 1920s England.
- 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.
Feature: Police procedural with a female lead
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:
- Deborah Masson’s series about DI Eve Hunter, starting with ‘Hold Your Tongue’.
- Carla Kovach’s series about Detective Gina Harte starting with ‘The Next Girl’.
- Isabelle Grey’s series about DI Grace Fisher starting with ‘Good Girls Don’t Die’. These have the bonus (for me) of being set in Essex – my birthplace!
I hope you have enjoyed my recommendations – please do let me know in the comments if you can add any more.