What a glorious read! May Persis Wadia share many more cases with us.

Inspector Persis Wadia, the first woman inspector for the Indian Police is called to the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland when a priceless copy of Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia - The Divine Comedy dating back to the fourteenth century disappears along with John Healy, one of the world’s foremost Dante scholars (employed by the Society as the Curator of Manuscripts). Wadia is left with nothing but riddles to track down, not just the book but also John Healy.

At the same time, the body of a foreign white woman has been found next to a railway line. Can this be connected to the missing book?

Vaseem Khan is a brilliant author. I first discovered his writing through the Baby Ganesh Agency series featuring Inspector Chopra. This is the second book featuring Persis Wadia. A “no-nonsense” female detective whose father owns a bookshop, filled with books covering every subject from very old to modern. We get to know this bookshop thanks to Persis having to search through literature to find the clues Healy has left behind.

There’s a gentle side to Persis, which is very seldom on show, especially in front of her fellow officers, simply because they’d walk all over her – women in India in the 1950s were not supposed to have reached positions like police inspectors – not just because men viewed them as inferior beings but also people like her aunt, who advocates that all women should be married – not running around in a uniform carrying a gun. However, now, and then, Persis will get dressed up in one of the fine garments that her aunt has purchased for her, and this is when we see the truly beautiful feminine side of her.

This novel is so much more than simply the search for a priceless book. It is filled with riddles and history and just some of the most awesome characters I’ve ever encountered in a storyline.

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

This was a gripping, intelligent mystery, even better than the first accomplished work of the series. In this book, Persia truly shines as an exceptional detective, refusing to be cowed by the misogyny and male dominant culture around her. It was also fascinating to read about WWII from an Indian perspective. And now the long wait until the next one….many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Persis Wadia is India’s first female police detective. In 1950s Bombay, that means work life can be difficult. When a rare and precious Dante manuscript disappears from the Bombay Royal Asiatic Society and a young woman is found murdered, Persis must keep her cool and solve a complex set of riddles on the trail to find the killer and recover the priceless manuscript. Intriguing clues, interesting characters, an engaging mystery.

Hmmm. Perhaps it's because I hadn't read the first one or perhaps this book isn't quite for me 'cause it just struggled to keep my attention throughout. This is what you're in for if you grab this:

✨1950s India
✨A murdery whodunit
✨The first female inspector trying to do her damn job

Persis Wadia is a woman. She also happens to be the first female inspector on the force and spend her entire career need to prove herself. After being tasked with finding a stolen manuscript, a whole bunch of deceit, codes and the odd murder are thrown at her along with the added pressure of the story leaking.

I was dead excited for this book. The idea of a bad-ass inspector paving the way for women whilst holding back the patriarchy should have been right up my street but I just couldn't sink my teeth into it and I legit can't tell you why.

The story is well crafted, the family caught my attention (the dad def got a few chuckles out of me), but I just couldn't love Persis. I'm sure she's lovely and we'd be pals in real life, but not in this book.

HOWEVER! That ending was perfect and whilst not technically a happy one, it's a big ol' stomp in the right direction for this character👌 People will absolutely love this.

must confess to never reading any of Vaseem Khan's previous books, but the sound of a 1950s female police inspector, some Indian history and a big dollop of Da Vinci Code-esq page turning made me take the plunge with The Dying Day – and I'm glad I did. Inspector Persis Wadia is a great protagonist. The post second world war and Indian independence setting provides lots of scope for conflict and intrigue and it means Persis is presented as a believable person with her own battles with her personal social standing and prejudices never far from the surface, as she fights the separate prejudices of any of those around her. Also, any bock that has another book going missing - a six-hundred-year-old copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy in this instance, is always going to pull me in.

This is the second book in the Malabar House series, and on this evidence, I'll be back for the next.

Sadly I didn’t finish this book.

I found it very slow, dull and unrealistic. Characters were pretentious with their knowledge that they kindly shared with others, but even though a lot of them were academics, the amount of information wasn’t very believable.

I was hoping for a murder mystery mixed with the history of India in the 1950s; instead I got a mediocre detective story that lacked pace and excitement. It’s a shame, because it had promise, but needs a lot of editing to take the story to the next level.

It's great to be back to Malabar House and read another Persis Wadia's investigation.
It's a multilayered, complex and fascinating story that mixes historical facts and fiction. An excellent depiction of Indian society after the independence and the struggle of a woman to manage her own life.
The plot is gripping, fast paced and full of twists. It kept me turning pages and guessing till the end.
The characters are fleshed out, Persis is a strong woman and I like how she relates to her contemporary society and what a woman is expected to be.
The historical background is vivid and well researched.
It's a great story that i strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I am a HUGE fan of the Inspector Chopra/ Baby Ganesh books by this author and I also really enjoyed the first in the series following the lead character here, Persis Wadia, so I was delighted to be offered an ARC of this book.

The Dying Day is a pacy novel that cracks along like all Khan's work. I read it all too quickly and then chastise myself for not having let it last a bit longer! I have typically given Khan's work 5 stars and have given this one 4 for a few reasons: I felt that Persis got a bit too strident with her lecturing, there were a few points where I felt there was unnecessary repetition and also the clues had a little too much of a whiff of Dan Brown for my taste. Also, I'm not sure about the ex boyfriend who keeps popping up - I felt the author could get rid of mentions of him and the narrative would be better for it. Will that stop me reading the next book? Absolutely not!

On the upside, I love Persis as a character when she's not in lecturing mode. I love her relationship with her family members, the well-drawn relationships with her fellow officers and her general less-than-lovable demeanour, which is charming in its own way. I love reading about post-Partition India and the issues the country is facing. In Khan's hands and with such evocative writing, the India of old rises from the pages.

I look forward to the next in the series!

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton, Vaseem Khan and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

When the first book in this series came out, I was happy for a new book from Mr. Khan, but upset that he was not currently writing a new "Inspector Chopra" book. And then I read it and all was forgiven. With this second installment in the "Malabar House" series, my admiration for Mr. Khan and his writing just continues to grow, as well as my love for Persis Wadia and all things India.

It is rare for me to develop book crushes - I have never been one to swoon over Mr. Darcy [though the actors that play him are a completely different story! ;-) ] or anyone like that, so if I develop a real affection for a character, it means that they have to be extremely well-written. This is where I am with Persis Wadia. She is absolutely amazing. Even when she is frustrating [going alone to the astronomy tower at night Persis? R E A L L Y??? Sigh], she is amazing. Her non-existent people skills is something I strive for [someday I will be able to say exactly what I feel and not worry what people will think of me and then walk away from it as well], and I love how she fights for herself in every way she knows how, even when she is fighting Aunt Nussy [who is formidable in her own right and who Persis is more like than she's like to admit, just in a way different way] and her campaign of making a "girl" out of Persis. She is also a top-notch Inspector/investigator, with the kind of analytical mind that every mystery loving person both loves and wishes they had. She is close to being the perfect character, which is really rare. Well done Mr. Khan.

The only negative for me with this book [aside from my continuing learning about India and Partition and wishing I knew more] was that is was centered around Dante's Inferno and I have not yet read that and I spent quite a bit of time going "what? WHAT does that even mean" [though I admit it has made me even more intrigued about it and I know that I will have to read it in the next year or so] all while being intrigued by the poetry of Inferno and how it was used to lead Persis and her team on an extremely extravagant treasure hunt, which led to a very clever reveal and ending. And while I guessed several things much earlier than Persis did, I didn't know the why or where and even the knowing didn't take away from the amazingness of this book and the end was very well done - and hopefully leaves it open for more books. Because I will not be a happy camper if Persis is regulated to just two books; she deserves so many more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Vaseem Khan, and Hodder and Stoughton [UK] for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Dying Day” is my introduction to Vaseem Khan and I am so grateful to make his acquaintance! What a fabulous mystery! It has everything one wants in a good whodunit and more!

The setting is India in 1950 and our leading lady, Persis, is the first female inspector. She is set a “peripheral” case which grows and become entangled with so much more. The complexity of post-colonial Bombay and its rich history is deftly handled.

Each character is multifaceted and beautifully written. The story is immersive and fast-paced, once begun it’s very tricky to put down! I loved it all!

If you enjoy a good historical novel, don’t miss this one! I’ll be enjoying many more from Vaseem I’m sure! And my first stop will be the first of this series, not necessary to appreciate this one but I’m sure I’m going to be captivated by it! It’s a five out of five on the enJOYment scale.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from Hodder & Stoughton through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Dying Day by Vaseem Khan is the second book featuring Persis Wadia and although I haven’t read the first book, thankfully it didn’t really matter.
In short, Persis, the only female police inspector based in Bombay in the 1950’s, finds herself deep in a double investigation, Dante’s 600 year old missing manuscript and a dead woman…could there be a connection? It’s a clever mystery filled with curious riddles, codes and ciphers and flooded with historical facts, which make this such an interesting read.
Vaseem is a great storyteller, alongside the drama, in Persis he has captured a strong, modern Indian woman living in challenging times during India’s post partition…the sense of place just leaps off the page. It’s an absolute belter of a thriller and I’m hoping there will be more from Persis and her team soon.
Big thanks to Vaseem Khan, Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

As with the first book in the Malabar House series, I enjoyed this immensely, and I'm happy to report that the second installment is even better than the first!

There's a wonderful experience to be had from a book that at once entertains and educates you, and Khan is an absolute master at this difficult balancing act. Refreshingly, Khan's writing isn't didactic or pompous: instead, the wealth of knowledge on his subject matter and the seemingly endless supply of slightly obscure English words seem a gift he's eager to share with his reader, rather than tools he wields in an attempt to impress.

Even accounting for my numerous pit stops along the way - whether it was looking up a newly discovered word or scouring a Wikipedia page detailing a particularly interesting means of scarification - I sped through the book in a fog of pure enjoyment and the thrill of the chase. Riddles and intrigues and interwoven mysteries propel the book's solid characterisation and setting, and some surprising bends in the road to the conclusion keep you hooked to the last.

May there be many more of Persis Wadia exploits to come!

The Dying Day is the second instalment in the terrific Malabar House series, and this time it centres around a murdered man and bespoke treasure, and Persis must solve the riddle to find the killer - or die trying. Bombay, 1950 and India's first female police detective, Persis Wadia, is summoned to the 150-year-old Bombay Royal Asiatic Society at Horniman Circle. The society's preeminent treasure, a priceless manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy, has vanished, as has the society's head curator, William Huxley, an Englishman with a passion for Indian history. Tasked to recover an item for which Benito Mussolini once offered one million pounds, Persis soon uncovers a series of murders and a trail of tantalising coded clues that lead her into the dark heart of a conspiracy.

This is a scintillating, superb and compulsive mix of luscious historical fiction and absorbing mystery. Khan has a vast historical knowledge of India which comes to the fore throughout and it's clear the country is still feeling the effects of World War II. His extensive knowledge brings both the time and place vividly to life by touching on culture, religion and the food as well as traditions and customs consistent with the time period. You can almost smell the spices. Some of the views of the time are shown through our protagonist’s struggles in a male-dominated workplace which fostered a culture of misogyny, condescension and entitlement, and Persis must work twice as hard as the men to prove her worth. This is a compelling, engrossing and richly atmospheric historical mystery. Highly recommended.

After enjoying the first book in this series, Midnight at Malabar House, I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Dying Day. All but one part of the mystery kept me guessing, and I really can't go into what part it is or my reasoning behind how I knew because it would be giving too much away. One thing is certain: this book has a little something for all mystery lovers. Clues, codes, and ciphers for traditional mystery lovers as well as a harder edge and post-war darkness. All good stuff.

Khan assembles an interesting cast of characters which include the missing man, John Healy, various people who want the Divine Comedy manuscript for their own reasons, the president of the Asiatic Society, Neve Forrester, Archie Blackfinch, an English forensic scientist who is attracted to Persis, and Zubin Dalal, the charming man from her past.

But The Dying Day is very much Persis Wadia's show. As Bombay's first female inspector, she is always having to prove herself, and it comes as a complete shock to her that organizations for women's rights think she is a role model. Give a speech? Are they nuts? We get to see her persistence as well as her ability to decipher codes. Her dedication as well as her temper. And we get to glimpse inside that walled-off heart of hers.

The Dying Day is a wonderful look at 1950s Bombay (Mumbai) and Persis Wadia is more than capable of holding my attention through (hopefully) many more books in this series.

I'm coming into this series a little late and still need to read the first book.....however, I didn't feel that I missed out on vital information reading this and thoroughly enjoyed this tale. I couldn't put it down.
The story centres around the disappearance of an English scholar who is working on a new translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy. Not only has he disappeared, but the manuscript has disappeared with him and a copy of the Bible left in it's place. Persis Wadia is tasked with finding both the scholar and the manuscript as soon as possible as it is a politically sensitive item.
Meanwhile, the body of a white woman is found down on the railway tracks and she is asked to supervise the investigation into that being led by Fernandes, someone who has betrayed her in the past.
As the story progresses, Persis has to solve puzzles to proceed with her case and the re-emergence of a face from her past throws her off kilter.
I loved this story and find the historical slant extremely interesting. I will read the previous book as soon as I can.

My thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

Second in the Malabar Hall series by the author, The Dying Day is a historical mystery featuring the (fictional) first female police inspector in India Persis Wadia. Set in 1950s Bombay, we find ourselves at a time when the country is still finding its feet, there is some amount of disillusionment and also the shadows of the unspeakable violence and death that marked the partition.

Persis is asked to take up an investigation at the Asiatic Society but other than being told that there’s a missing manuscript, she hasn’t been given details. Arriving there she finds it isn’t just a rare manuscript but an over six-hundred-year-old copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy, one of the two oldest in the world. Not only that, the curator in-charge John Healy, a renowned scholar working on a translation of the MS has gone missing as well. But why would someone that well known steal the manuscript? The matter is of course not as simple as it seems on the surface, and soon Persis finds herself faced with a series of riddles and ciphers which she must solve to reach the manuscript. The pressure is immense as the matter can lead to a politically charged situation if not resolved soon. Alongside, the body of a white woman is found on the railway tracks and a forensic examination reveals that this was not a suicide but murder. Persis’ nemesis of sorts, George Fernandes is asked to lead the investigation while Persis is simply to supervise but this leads to some tensions for Fernandes had leaked information to the press in a past investigation showing her in poor light.

Alongside Persis has to also cope with the attention she attracts due to her position as the first woman inspector as also the mistrust and disapproval. There are also troubles in her personal life as she finds she has feelings for forensic investigator Archie Blackfinch (whom her family would never approve of) while her old love interest Zubin Dalal (who had betrayed her, and married another woman) is back in the picture.

This was a really interesting mystery which had so many elements that I enjoy, and kept me engrossed throughout.

For starters, I should say that even though this was a second in series, I found I didn’t have any problems getting into the story as the author has included sufficient recaps and background (I mean the basics of Persis’ story and the threads that continue across the books) for one to be able to grasp things and follow along.

When I had requested the book, I had done so on the basis that it was a historical mystery set around the first woman inspector but I don’t think I had taken in what the mystery was about so that actually turned out to be a really pleasant surprise when I started. For, a mystery with a missing ancient manuscript, and a set of riddles and codes to solve to get to it is something right up my alley and I absolutely loved it. I didn’t make any attempts to solve the riddles (though I doubt I would have gotten far not knowing Bombay so well), but thoroughly enjoyed watching Persis work them out. An added bonus for me was that since Persis’ father Sam runs a book shop, we have literary references and allusions throughout and she also solves many of the questions in her mind through the books she has come across in the shop or by looking things up.

I also really liked that the basic background and many of the elements that the mystery was based around including the Dante manuscript and Bombay’s architecture are real. I think one more familiar with Bombay (or Mumbai as it now is) would enjoy it all the more for the places referenced would be a great deal more fun for them. Other than Bombay and its history, the events of World War II also impact the mystery for the curator Healy had been a prisoner of war, and another character is also haunted by their experiences.

Persis herself I found slightly hard to like although I could understand her reasons for being as she is. She joined the police in a sense because she was told she couldn’t but now she simply wants to do her job and not be the centre of attention in any way, yet she finds herself being treated as some sort of exhibit or zoo-animal which while not surprising, makes her prickly and short with people.

That small complaint apart, I found the book to be far more interesting (and even more meaty) than I had expected and enjoyed it thoroughly.

[The other small niggle was I was unsure about was how Persis was an inspector since as far as I know IPS officers start out at a higher rank.]

Persis Wadia is the first female police inspector in India and in this case she is tasked with hunting down a stolen manuscript. Of course things are not so straightforward as they seem and Persis and Malabar House are plunged into a riddle-filled case where far too many people end up dead. I love a good historical mystery! 4.5/5

I enjoyed the historical background given in the book, though it was occasionally more information than was strictly necessary for understanding the plot and occasionally took away from the storyline. However, the story was a good one and it kept me guessing as to how it would all connect until the end, which is my favorite kind of mystery. Not too easy that you know what is going on too early in the book, but with enough information given to the reader that we can more or less cobble things together in a way that makes us feel like we are solving the case alongside Persis. The way things linked up made sense without the author needing to do too much exposition (though the villain’s monologue was necessary for the final pieces to come together) that revealed hidden facts only the author knew. It was gritty without being overly grim and provided readers with a tour of Bombay and post-independence India that I haven’t often seen.
I liked Persis quite a bit - actually I liked all of the characters - and really look forward to getting to know them all better. This is the second book in the series so now I need to hunt down number one!

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for letting me read The Dying Day early in exchange for an honest review!

A thoroughly enjoyable second outing for Inspector Persis Wadia, the first Indian woman police detective in 1950s post-partition Bombay. There’s a priceless missing manuscript, a treasure hunt of clues, mysterious dead bodies and dastardly Nazis - an absolute page-turner! We get to know Persis better in this book and she’s a great character. I’d really love her to be happy in love, but settling down and becoming a housewife really wouldn’t suit her personality.

Five stars and I’m already looking forward to Book Three.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

This is the second book in the Persis Wadia series, set in post-Partition India in 1950. Persis is the first female police inspector in India, and she faces difficulties from people who don’t respond to a woman, or don’t take her seriously.

Persis and the team at Malabar House are called in to investigate the disappearance of a priceless manuscript from the Royal Asiatic Society – an early copy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The man working on a new translation of the book is also missing. The search for the book takes in murders, riddles, dark deeds in Italy and Germany during the Second World War, and all against the tensions of a new age in Indian politics and society.

Persis is a heroine you root for, so well-drawn, and with a personal life that becomes confusing for her in this second book (Archie is still there, but a previous love also turns up…)

Vaseem Khan is an excellent writer, and knits all the aspects of the plot together whilst engaging character development for the main protagonists. It’s an informative and enjoyable mystery.

Another book by this brilliant author which takes us into the world of post British India. Persis Wadia is the only woman Police Inspector in India
and boy has she got to face discrimination, snide remarks, looks and worse. Persis a Parsee (a small forward thinking minority community) has the support of
her father but her Aunt who has looked after her since the death of her mother finds it tough to accept Persis's role in the masculine world she occupies.

On the one hand Persis herself knows that she is going to find it singularly difficult to find a partner. But at the same time, her career is important
to her and she is not going to allow anything to get in her way.

The case of a missing book worth millions starts the case going, with the main protagonist going missing. He is an erudite scholar and it is only through
the sheer brilliant workings of Persis's mind that she unravels the cryptic clues he leaves behind. A mix of detection and knowledge of the classics slowly
unwinds the puzzle, and with the murder of a white woman (uncommon in post British India) the pressure is on to solve the case.
When Italian diplomats also get involved in the case, it is obvious that big money is also somehow involved and it is a running battle for Persis with the
reluctant help of her colleagues to prevent more murders and find out who is behind the robbery.

A fascinating look at colonial India (post Colonial actually) with all the workings and administration as it were before.
I loved this story (my second read of Persis's exploits). With all the inhibitions and difficulties of 1950s India.