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 Review Midnight at Malabar House Review

And so, when the phone rings to report the murder of prominent English diplomat Sir James Herriot, the country's most sensational case falls into her lap. 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 *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 Wadia is a very relatable, real character. The only woman among male colleagues and bosses who tell her that she does not deserve to be among them, she is plagued with doubt. Khan describes her style of investigation with an intimacy that makes the novel charming:

Midnight at Malabar House (Inspector Wadia series) Midnight at Malabar House (Inspector Wadia series)

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.

Review

A GoodReads author I know thought this book sounded like my kind of thing, and she was right. It's a well-written mystery that introduced me to the culture of another country and a major moment in its history. 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. In 2021, the second novel Dying Day was published. Set in Bombay, 1950 again one of the world’s great treasures, a six-hundred-year-old copy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, has been safely housed at Bombay’s Asiatic Society for over a century. But when it vanishes, together with the man charged with its care, British scholar and war hero, John Healy, the case lands on Inspector Persis Wadia’s desk.

The best recent thrillers – review roundup - The Guardian The best recent thrillers – review roundup - The Guardian

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. Those who have enjoyed the Baby Ganesh Agency novels will be interested to hear of a new series by author Vaseem Khan, again set in Bombay, but at an earlier date. We have a new cast of characters, revolving around Persis Wadia, India’s first female police detective.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.

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

As with Khan’s established Ganesh series, however, the crime under investigation provides a basis for the author to explore wider issues, and there is plenty of material here of interest: the continuing resentment against the British Raj for withholding independence for so long; the mixture of religions and beliefs thrown into a new environment after Partition; and the development of a truly home-grown culture. 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. 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

Summary

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. 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 * Khan keeps the narrative simple. He does not want to rush the readers towards the murderer; there is no sense of urgency to the plot. Wadia’s perspective of looking at details keep the readers engaged. Persis is determined to be a success in this new India, not so much for her own ambition or to honor the activist mother she lost when she was seven, but to make justice happen. She is ornery and speaks her mind too much, so it's a question whether she will be able to keep her job in the know-a-guy culture left over from colonialism. This is the first in a new historical crime series from Vaseem Khan, author of the excellent Baby Ganesh Agency novels. Opening on 31 December 1949 in Bombay, it follows Insp Persis Wadia, India’s first female police detective, as she fights both to prove herself (her appointment is greeted with hysteria, with newspapers claiming that “in temperament, intelligence and moral fibre, the female of the species is, and always will be, inferior to the male”) and to solve the murder of the English diplomat Sir James Herriot.