I think I've found another detective series I can get behind. This series is set in turn-of-the-decade 40s and 50s Bombay, a period when Partition is still leaving a bitter taste, when the British who remain are not necessarily to be trusted. We meet Persis Wadia, India's first female detective. She's prickly, and quick to take offence, but she's had to fight hard to get where she is now, and even harder to retain her place on the ladder. She's based at Malabar House, where all the Police misfits and embarrassments end up. When prominent English diplomat, James Herriot is murdered, the case lands up on her desk . Why? Following clues and intuition, and with the cooperation of English criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she finds the murderer. He even confesses. But did he actually commit the crime? Sometimes convoluted, this is an engaging story that on its way teaches something of the fallout from a chaotic act of Partition. A largely satisfying read. ( )

Persis Wadia, the first and so far only female police inspector in India, is summoned to the Bombay home of a wealthy Englishman on New Year’s Eve 1949; the Englishman has been killed and, as Persis is the duty officer that holiday night she gets the call. She is less than pleased when she finds that the dead man’s assistant has summoned someone else as well, an English “criminalist” named Archie Blackfinch who has been advising the new crime branch of the government, but it soon becomes apparent that she will have to work with the man if she wants to get anything done at all. She is eager to prove that women can be successful police officers, but when her own superior officers undermine her efforts to find the truth and instead settle for a convenient fiction, Persis realizes that she will have to prove herself to herself, first of all…. I ran across a story by Mr. Khan featuring Persis in an anthology I read recently (also co-edited by Mr. Khan) and I was intrigued enough to search out the first couple of novels in this series. I’m glad I did: Persis is a delight, being highly intelligent, very very prickly and absolutely tenacious when she is after the truth, and Archie is a quite lovely bumbling-but-not-really sidekick. We are also treated to a few lectures on Indian history, in particular Partition and its aftermaths, but those history lessons are incorporated into the story in such a way that the reader doesn’t experience them as information dumps; rather, they serve to orient Persis, Archie and others in the story in the larger context of the world around them. I’m happy to know that there are, as of now, three other books in this series and I’m already looking forward to reading them; recommended! ( )

This is intriguing, but I can't help that it is trying to do a bit too much.
Set in early 1950 in post partition India, the main character is Persis, India's first female detective. Her father is a wheelchair bound book shop owner, her mother died at a protest. She has anger issues and is struggling to deal with the inherent misogyny of her colleagues and her culture. At times she feels rather modern, maybe too modern. Into the investigation we throw an English forensic consultant with a dose of OCD (at the very least), I sense the beginnings of a potential difficult romance.
All of which is already overloading a book and we're yet to discuss the murder. Sir James Herriot is a diplomat (not a vet) who is found dead with his trousers down at a New Year's party at his house. He was involved in an investigation into crimes committed at partition, is this the cause of his murder? There are motives all over the place, and quite a lot of history, the massacre at Amritsar gets a name check amongst other battles and wars.
It's not that this was bad, it just felt like it had to many layers. It made it overly complicated. This might have been a better read had there been less going on. It is the start of a series. ( )

Bright start to a new historical mystery series set in India by Vaseem Khan. Persis Wadia, the first female inspector in post-independence India, has been sidelined into a team of misfit police upon graduating from the police academy. Now unexpectedly brought into leading the investigation of a well-connected British aristocrat's murder, she brings her dogged intelligence, moralistic and also naive persona to the investigation. An excellent and involved police procedural carries the narrative against the backdrop of intriguing and sometimes harrowing stories of the impact of partition on post-colonial India. Lots of well-drawn investigative threads that come together in a satisfying conclusion. Since Persis was not meant to succeed in this investigation as we learn, it is not surprising that "justice" as we might think of it in Western terms is not exactly served. But Persis survives her bosses' wrath to continue onward.

Characters beautifully drawn in this book -- Persis, her father Sam, and of course her sometime partner in this investigation, forensic investigator Archie Blackfinch. I applaud Vaseem Kham's decision to imperil Archie twice in the book, including at the end, only to be saved by Persis! Delightful switch in the overused "damsel in distress" trope.

I have already bought the next book in the series The Dying Day and it will be ready on my TBR list when I can get to it! Good job Vaseem! ( )

Very enjoyable. A feisty young woman police officer (either brave or foolish, self-centred or morally strong) at the time of partition and independence. Lots of history.