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Book Summary and Reviews of The Bombay Prince (A Perveen Mistry Novel) by Sujata Massey

The Bombay Prince (A Perveen Mistry Novel) by Sujata Massey

The Bombay Prince (A Perveen Mistry Novel)

by Sujata Massey

  • Published:
  • May 2022, 360 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Bombay's first female lawyer, Perveen Mistry, is compelled to bring justice to the family of a murdered female Parsi student just as Bombay's streets erupt in riots to protest British colonial rule. Sujata Massey is back with this third installment to the Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning series set in 1920s Bombay.

November 1921. Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, is arriving in Bombay to begin a fourmonth tour. The Indian subcontinent is chafing under British rule, and Bombay solicitor Perveen Mistry isn't surprised when local unrest over the royal arrival spirals into riots. But she's horrified by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old female Parsi student, who falls from a second-floor gallery just as the prince's grand procession is passing by her college.

Freny had come for a legal consultation just days before her death, and what she confided makes Perveen suspicious that her death was not an accident. Feeling guilty for failing to have helped Freny in life, Perveen steps forward to assist Freny's family in the fraught dealings of the coroner's inquest. When Freny's death appears suspicious, Perveen knows she can't rest until she sees justice done. But Bombay is erupting: as armed British secret service march the streets, rioters attack anyone with perceived British connections, and desperate shopkeepers destroy their own wares so they will not be targets of racial violence. Can Perveen help a suffering family when her own is in danger?

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Exceptional ... Massey has never been better at pairing her redoubtable and impressive lead with a challenging murder to unravel." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Graceful prose and mastery of period detail ... [The Bombay Prince] propels a rich story of female empowerment during a pivotal era." —Kirkus Reviews

"Mistry charges into both matters with her usual pointed but restrained anger toward India's patriarchy and colonial rule." —Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"The Bombay Prince is the third delightful installment of Sujata Massey's mystery series set in 1920s India. Heroine Perveen is much more than a sari-clad Miss Marple: she's Bombay's first female lawyer as well as a keenly intelligent sleuth, a trail-blazing woman balancing the weight of family tradition with her own dreams. Perveen's investigation into the mysterious death of a young university student coincides with the imperial visit of the future Edward VIII, and the resulting trail of breadcrumbs through royal receptions, street riots, squalid jails, and lavish hotels makes for a deliciously satisfying read!" —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code

This information about The Bombay Prince (A Perveen Mistry Novel) was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Sujata Massey Author Biography

Sujata Massey was born in England to parents from India and Germany, grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and lives in Baltimore, Maryland. She was a features reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun before becoming a full-time novelist. Her novels have won the Agatha and Macavity awards and been finalists for the Edgar, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark prizes. The first Perveen Mistry novel, The Widows of Malabar Hill, was an international bestseller.

Link to Sujata Massey's Website

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