I've been blogging so minimally lately that I wonder if readers have given up on this blog. I wish I could say that I'm going to do better in the future, but I can't promise that. At this point, I don't think I'll be able to be any more reliable during the remainder of the year.
The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey is a Mistry mystery. The protagonist is Perveen Mistry, and this book is the third in the series. I reviewed the first book in the series, The Widows of Malabar Hill on Flying High Reviews here. I received a digital copy of The Bombay Prince from Edelweiss, but I mainly read a print version of this book that I checked out from my local library.
One of the aspects of The Bombay Prince that drew my interest was that it deals with the actual historical unrest in India over the arrival of the British Prince of Wales in Bombay, which is now called Mumbai, during November of 1921.
In The Bombay Prince, Perveen went to a protest over the Prince's visit. An American journalist was also there. He was from The San Francisco Chronicle. I consulted Wikipedia which informed me that this newspaper was founded in 1865. Perveen commented to the journalist that no one read The San Francisco Chronicle in India. I'd imagine that Indians who read foreign newspapers in 1921 would have been more likely to have been reading British newspapers.
I think that this Mistry mystery felt much less distanced than the previous book in the series, The Satapur Moonstone, which I had considered skipping. I was much more pleased with The Bombay Prince because it was rooted in real history. I also thought that the inclusion of all the themes that are central concerns for Perveen made The Bombay Prince my favorite of the Perveen Mistry series.
There was the theme of prejudice against Parsis, the theme of English dominance of India, class snobbery and the suppression of women by men who don't respect them.
I'm hoping that Perveen Mistry will continue to deal with significant issues in future Mistry mysteries.
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