Perveen Mistry Mysteries

Bombay's only female solicitor, Perveen Mistry, grapples with class divisions, sexism, and complex family dynamics as she seeks justice for a mistreated young woman in this thrilling fourth installment in Sujata Massey's award-winning series. India, 1922: Perveen Mistry is the only female lawyer in Bombay, a city where child mortality is high, birth control is unavailable and very few women have ever seen a doctor. Perveen is attending a lavish fundraiser for a new women's hospital specializing in maternal health issues when she witnesses an accident. The grandson of an influential Gujarati businessman catches fire-but a servant, his young ayah, Sunanda, rushes to save him, selflessly putting herself in harm's way. Later, Perveen learns that Sunanda, who's still ailing from her burns, has been arrested on trumped-up charges made by a man who doesn't seem to exist. Perveen cannot stand by while Sunanda languishes in jail with no hope of justice. She takes Sunanda as a client, even inviting her to live at the Mistry home in Bombay's Dadar Parsi colony. But the joint family household is already full of tension. Perveen's father worries about their law firm taking so much personal responsibility for a client, and her brother and sister-in-law are struggling to cope with their new baby. Perveen herself is going through personal turmoil as she navigates a taboo relationship with a handsome former civil service officer. When the hospital's chief donor dies suddenly, Miriam Penkar, a Jewish-Indian obstetrician, and Sunanda become suspects. Perveen's original case spirals into a complex investigation taking her into the Gujarati strongholds of Kalbadevi and Ghatkopar, and up the coast to Juhu Beach, where a decadent nawab lives with his Australian trophy wife. Then a second fire erupts, and Perveen realizes how much is at stake. Has someone powerful framed Sunanda to cover up another crime? Will Perveen be able to prove Sunanda's innocence without endangering her own family?

A movie censor murdered, a leading lady vanished-the glamour, romance, and intrigue of the beginnings of Bollywood come to vivid life in the thrilling new installment of the Perveen Mistry historical mystery series. India, 1922: Perveen Mistry, the only female lawyer in Bombay, is on the verge of securing her biggest client yet: Champa Films, a movie studio run by director Subhas Ghoshal and his wife, Rochana, the biggest name in Indian cinema. In the public eye, Rochana is notorious for her beauty and her daring stunts-behind the scenes, she has recently left the Calcutta studio that made her famous, and the studio owner is enraged by what he claims is a breach of contract. Rochana needs Perveen's legal help to extricate Champa Films from the impending controversy. To study Rochana's glamorous world, Perveen attends a Champa Films screening and brings her film fanatic best friend, Alice Hobson-Jones. But in the aftermath of the event, one of the guests is found dead, and to make matters worse, Rochana has disappeared. Now with a different legal obligation to her clients-to protect them in the face of a developing murder case-Perveen begins to investigate, peeling back the glitz to reveal a salacious web of blackmail, deceit, and romantic affairs. Perveen has her own secret: her relationship with a handsome former civil service officer, which is becoming harder to hide by the day. For the first time in their friendship, Alice seems to be keeping a secret from Perveen. Is she hiding key information about the night of the murder? Will Perveen be able to detangle the truth from lies while protecting herself-and her closest friend? Story Locale:1920s Bombay, India Series Overview: Perveen Mistry is the only female lawyer in Bombay, India, and uses her unique position to solve crimes against women.