The Mistress of Bhatia House

The Mistress of Bhatia House is the fourth book in the Perveen Mistry series by award-winning, best-selling British-born American author, Sujata Massey. At Bhatia House for a fund-raising tea in aid of a proposed hospital for women, Perveen Mistry witnesses a heroic act by the family's ayah that saves the life of the young heir to wealthy widower and stone merchant, Sir Dwarkanath Bhatia's fortune. Both the boy and his ayah sustain burns, but Dr Miriam Penkar, the future hospital's medical director, is on hand to help.

A few days later, having inexplicably fallen out of favour with her sister-in-law Gulnaz and her new baby, Perveen seeks to escape the Mistry home by attending to a chore at the bail court. Her wish to further occupy her afternoon is granted when she spots the ayah in a line of prisoners. Sunanda Chavda has been arrested on what Perveen believes is a trumped-up charge, and she is determined to help the courageous young woman.

This is mid-1922, and women are not allowed to speak in court, so she almost gets herself into trouble trying to speak for Sunanda, but she can and does pay her bail. As Sunanda is homeless because of the shame the charge will bring on her family, Perveen takes her home to await trial and tend her infected burns in the servant's cottage and, while her mother is sympathetic, her father foresees complications, both legal and with the extended family.

To give her client the best chance, Perveen will have to engage a barrister, and depose witnesses, but will the Bhatias pay their employee's legal fees? She is dismayed by their response, and something about the whole situation has her wondering if there's more to Sunanda's story than she's telling. And then, Dwarkanath Bhatia dies of poisoning…

In the background of all this is Perveen's developing relationship with former ICS agent, Colin Sandringham, now living in Bombay. She wonders if her acquaintance of Dr Penkar might provide the means to allow her to engage more intimately without disgracing her family. She is a little concerned at the political aspect of the work he has been offered, though.

In an action-packed tale that features wrongful imprisonment, arson, unfair dismissal, corruption, a shooting, and fraud, all leading up to a nail-biting climax, Massey deftly demonstrates the powerlessness of women in this era, even as progressive thinkers are striving to make changes to improve their welfare.

Once again, Massey gives the reader a tale filled with rich everyday historical minutiae, making the detail of custom and ritual easy to assimilate, while providing a plot that will keep the reader guessing until the final pages.

While it could be read as a stand-alone, familiarity with the regular characters and their backgrounds certainly enhances the reader's enjoyment. There are several unresolved situations that promise further instalments, and more of this fascinating historical crime fiction is most definitely welcome.