A highly-respected English scholar is in Bombay, studying a 13th century manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy with a view to a new translation. When the book goes missing, and the scholar too, Inspector Persis Wadia is assigned to investigate. Meanwhile, she is also asked to supervise Sub-Inspector George Fernandes as he investigates the death of a young English woman, something she is loath to do because of his previous behavior towards her. As the mystery surrounding each of these investigations deepens, she realizes that the answers lie in the recent past, and the horrors of the Second World War…. This is the second book in the Malabar House series, and like its predecessor is set in Bombay circa 1950, where Persis is the first (and so far, only) female police inspector in the country. She continues to be an intriguing character, both very smart, very diligent and very prickly indeed, as she must be in the face of so much disapproval for her career. The secondary characters are also well-drawn and complex, especially Archie Blackfinch, the British crime scene investigator with whom Persis works closely, and Sub-Inspector Fernandes, who is much more than he seems. I caught a couple of anachronisms here (even though the term “Ms.” is said to have originated in the 1950s, I doubt it was known and used in 1950 in India, and the term “Bollywood” dates from the 1970s), but overall this series continues to delight, and I am looking forward to Persis’s next adventure; recommended! ( )

aseem Khan is one of my favorite authors. However, I don't like everything that he writes. The Dying Day is book 2 in his Malabar House Series featuring Persis Wadia as Bombay's only female police detective. It takes place in the 1950s. In this installment of the series Persis is searching for a missing man and a valuable stolen manuscript, a six hundred year old copy of Dante's Divine Comedy. While this book will not be published until November 2, 2021, I was able to obtain a Kindle version of it.

John Healy is a British scholar who the police assume has stolen the manuscript. He goes missing at the same time the manuscript disappears from the library at The Asiatic Society where he was responsible for its care. Together with an English forensic scientist named Archie Blackfinch, Persis finds a complex series of riddles set in verses that need to be resolved in order to locate the man and the book. However, a body is found first, adding to her investigative demands.

The Dying Day was not a hit for me. The story was interesting at first but then uninteresting after a few chapters. This dichotomy repeated itself throughout my reading of the book and I frequently felt bored. Normally I would love a book that has riddles to be solved. This one did not showcase them well. There was no suspense surrounding the finding of the riddles or after they were figured out.

The Persis character seemed a little different from book one. She frequently expressed anger when having to interview men who thought they were her superiors. There were no inner thoughts of angst which I expected. She was not as interesting as she was in book 1. None of the English characters captured my imagination either.

The Dying Day is not Khan's best work. ( )

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.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) ( )

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was fairly enjoyable, with Persis seeking a missing academic and the valuable manuscript it is assumed he has stolen. As Bombay's only female police inspector, Persis faces prejudice on a daily basis, although she could make her life easier if she weren't so rude to every one. I felt for her poor love interest, Archie - my advice to him would be to abandon her and look for some one kind instead.

The plot was very convoluted and involved a series of riddles and puzzles we were supposed to believe the desperate academic had taken the time to set at various locations around Bombay for reasons that no doubt seemed valid to him, but which I didn't buy into. It moved along at a good pace for about 50% of the time, but a surprising amount of the book consisted of infodumps about a whole variety of topics (Dante, Naziism, freemasonry to name but three), which were often detailed and not terribly interesting. They meant a character was always lecturing another about one of these topics, which read clumsily and slowed the narrative down.

Worth a read nonetheless. ( )