"In a corner of the office, a tall Godrej cabinet was Perveen's alone. It held umbrellas, extra clothing, and the Bombay Samachar article touting her as Bombay's first woman solicitor. She'd wanted to frame the news story and hang it on the downstairs wall along with Jamshedji Mistry's many accolades. Her father had thought it too much to throw in the faces of clients who needed a gentle introduction to the prospect of female representation."

The Widows of Malabar Hill is the story of Perveen Mistry, the first female solicitor in Bombay, India. Set in the early twentieth century, Perveen grows up in an India which struggles with British rule and is slowly modernizing but still does not allow women much freedom (nor does Britain at the time). Growing up with her father, Jamshedji Mistry, as a celebrated lawyer, Perveen is intelligent and strong-willed enough to make her own path. The story moves back and forth between the events that shaped her as a teen in Bombay and her return to the city five years later as a young woman with a law degree from Oxford and a determination to help other women. When a routine handling of the estate of a Muslim mill owner named Omar Farid becomes complicated with the widows who are living in seclusion and a potentially unscrupulous guardian, Perveen's investigations start to reveal dark secrets. It's up to Perveen to sort out the mystery before her life and that of the widows is put in danger.

I felt like this story was as much historical fiction as it was mystery. I say that largely because it takes a full third of of the book to even get to where we find out what the mystery is and things really get moving. That's not to say I minded the wait. Massey weaves such a brilliantly detailed picture of Bombay that you can nearly smell and taste it. She uses a lot of unfamiliar terms for those not familiar with the culture so for your reference, there is a glossary at the back. There's also a tension that builds as Massey weaves in chapters which flash back to Perveen as a late teen which help to explain her attitude and wariness in the present day portions of the story. When you find out how Perveen got to where she is, it's makes her a very sympathetic character. Much of the story is built on the idea of women supporting each other even when society does its best to put obstacles in their way and I really appreciated that. I also liked that Perveen's family was so supportive of her. It's awesome to have a historical mystery with a strong female at the center and yet have flawed characters throughout (including Perveen herself) who seem less like cardboard cutouts than living, breathing people.

While the mystery at its base is not out of the ordinary, The Widows of Malabar Hill feels so intensely, vividly alive with the personality and feel of 1920's Bombay that I had a hard time putting the story down. I'm not normally a huge fan of historical fiction but I really enjoyed Perveen Mistry and her friends and family as she tried to help a group of women who had been secluded from much of society. It's a story that will work best for those who don't mind more leisurely paced mysteries or a blend of historical fiction and mystery but it's very well written and intriguing.