A Murder on Malabar Hill
Page 38
More dining adventures and insights into the city came with Avantika Akerkar, the Bombay-born actress and writer. Rajendra B. Aklekar, a writer and authority on India’s railway history, helped me learn the railway lines with his book Halt Station India. He also was kind enough to answer many questions about railway routes and stations in 1920s’ Bombay.
Anyone might wonder how I managed to meet so many people during my research trips. All was made possible by my steadfast and good-hearted driver, Namdev Shinde, and the travel agent who matched us, Bhavin Toprani of Travelite in Mumbai.
Big hugs to my indefatigable agent, Vicky Bijur, for bringing my idea for a new series set in 1920s India to the excellent editor Juliet Grames and the rest of the outstanding team at Soho Press. I also owe much to Ambar Sahil Chatterjee, my editor at Penguin Random House India, for his thoughtful notes and ongoing support of my historical fiction.
Loads of kisses for the Masseys of Baltimore. My husband, Anthony Massey, was the one who said, ‘Why not a legal mystery?’ Tony endures my absences for work and keeps the home fires burning without complaint. My children, Pia and Neel, have grown in taking on responsibility when I’m away doing research. Yes, I’ve noticed!
If I’ve forgotten to name anyone else who’s helped, please accept my deep apology, and know how grateful I am for your help in bringing this project from daydream to print.
By the Same Author
The City of Palaces
A lush, sprawling historical saga of romance, anger, intrigue and adventure
Bengal, 1930. Young Pom’s life changes forever when her family is wiped out in a devastating flood. She becomes a maidservant in a British boarding school where she discovers her gift for languages. Amidst the drudgery of her duties, she finds unexpected friendship and experiences the stirrings of first love. However, tragedy soon strikes, and our heroine is forced into hiding. Alone and desperate, she makes a dangerous journey from the secretive, decadent world of an exclusive brothel to the grand metropolis of Calcutta, the city of palaces. Swept into the rising tide of the Indian freedom struggle, she creates a new life for herself, one that holds the promise of happiness and true love . . . until her past returns to haunt her.
‘A suspenseful adventure with elements of romance and espionage that will appeal to a large audience’
Washington Independent Review of Books
‘Sujata masterfully gives us an elegant piece of Indian history wrapped beautifully in Pom’s story’
Amulya Malladi, author of The Mango Season
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN BOOKS
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Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
This collection published 2018
Copyright © Sujata Massey 2018
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Jacket images © Neelima P Aryan
ISBN: 978-0-143-42823-7
This digital edition published in 2018.
e-ISBN: 978-9-387-62544-0
For sale in the Indian Subcontinent only
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.