The Mistress of Bhatia House

February 1, 2023

Burned when rescuing her young charge when he's maliciously set afire, an ayah named Sunanda is then falsely accused of criminal behavior by an unidentified stranger and taken on as a client by Perveen Mistry, 1920s Bombay's only female solicitor. Inviting Sunanda into her already tumultuous household does cause problems, but tension really ratchets up when Sunanda and Jewish-Indian obstetrician Miriam Penkar are suspected of murdering the hospital's chief donor. Next in Massey's multi-award-winning series. Prepub Alert.

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May 15, 2023
The only female lawyer in colonial Bombay again turns sleuth to aid a hapless servant. Before presenting a party on June 1, 1922, that celebrates wealthy Uma Bhatia's founding of a charity hospital, Massey reveals the lamentations of Oshadi, the elderly housemistress of the Bhatia domestic staff, over the constant friction between Uma and her sister, Mangala. At the party, attorney Perveen Mistry meets India's only female obstetrician-gynecologist, Dr. Miriam Penkar, but the celebratory mood is marred when the clothing of Uma's young son, Ishan, catches fire. Sunanda, a young servant who rushes to dowse him, is scolded by Mangala, who says she should have been watching the boy. Perveen notices that Sunanda herself has been badly burned. A few days later, while collecting a bail refund, Perveen is shocked to see that Sunanda is now under arrest. Her alleged crime is taking "an oral abortifacient," abetted by Oshadi. Sunanda's pleas of innocence prompt Perveen to step up immediately to represent her. She naturally enlists the help of her new friend Miriam. Sunanda's situation has clear resonance a century later. This complex case is just the tip of an iceberg whose corruption is progressively revealed by Perveen's investigation. As tradition dictates, Perveen lives with her parents; a buoyant subplot follows the family's adventure with the arrival of new baby Khushy, daughter of Perveen's brother. While anchoring her novel in a mystery, Massey offers a striking depiction of India in the 1920s, complete with maps, detailed descriptions of the customs of the time, and a panoramic cast of characters from every social stratum. A complex whodunit that also provides a fascinating immersion in a bygone era.

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June 5, 2023
Set in 1922 India, Massey’s provocative fourth entry in her Perveen Mistry series (following 2022’s The Bombay Prince) finds Perveen, Bombay’s only female solicitor, volunteering to defend a young ayah who has been arrested for inducing her own abortion. The woman denies she was ever pregnant, and as Perveen investigates, she slowly uncovers corruption, fraud, and possibly murder, all tied to the misappropriation of funds raised for a women’s hospital. Things get more complicated when Perveen’s sister-in-law, suffering from severe postpartum depression, leaves her newborn with Perveen’s parents and goes home to her mother. The complex mystery sometimes takes a backseat to Massey’s deep dive into social issues during the Raj, especially the lack of rights for women of all classes. Those matters are mostly well-handled, though—through Perveen, readers see an Oxford-educated lawyer from a privileged family plausibly contend with the sexism and racism of her time and place—and when Massey returns to the plot’s core mystery, she manages some nifty suprises. This is a transporting mystery. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary.

June 1, 2023
The star of Massey's award-winning series, Perveen Mistry, is an Oxford-educated lawyer who represents clients caught up in the complexities and cruelties of life under British rule in 1922 Bombay. Her own life, as a woman separated from an abusive husband and as the only woman lawyer in Bombay, puts her in the cross hairs of Indian expectations and British entitlement. In this, the fourth in the series, Perveen is a guest at a fundraiser on the grounds of the lavish Bhatia House near Bombay, the good cause is a greatly needed women's charitable hospital. A grandson of a wealthy businessman accidentally catches fire; his Indian ayah, or nursemaid, risks her own life to put out the fire, saving the child. Incredibly, the nursemaid is put in jail, charged with having had an abortion. Perveen takes up the nursemaid's case, and the reader learns of the shocking racist and misogynist practices of the time. Massey creates very strong characterization and vividly detailed descriptions of daily life. A solid companion series would be The Bangalore Detectives Club, by Harini Nagendra.

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