The Dying Day

The Malabar House Series, Book 2

By: Vaseem Khan

Narrated by: Maya Saroya

The second brilliant novel in the highly acclaimed Malabar House series featuring Persis Wadia, India's first female police detective.

A priceless manuscript. A missing scholar. A trail of riddles.

Bombay, 1950

For over a century, one of the world's great treasures, a six-hundred-year-old copy of Dante's The Divine Comedy, has been safely housed at Bombay's Asiatic Society. But when it vanishes, together with the man charged with its care, British scholar and war hero, John Healy, the case lands on Inspector Persis Wadia's desk.

Uncovering a series of complex riddles written in verse, Persis - together with English forensic scientist Archie Blackfinch - is soon on the trail. But then they discover the first body.

As the death toll mounts it becomes evident that someone else is also pursuing this priceless artefact and will stop at nothing to possess it . . .

Harking back to an era of darkness, this second thriller in the Malabar House series pits Persis, once again, against her peers, a changing India, and an evil of limitless intent.

Gripping, immersive, and full of Vaseem Khan's trademark wit, this is historical fiction at its finest.

(P) 2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited©2021 Vaseem Khan Ltd

Critic reviews

This is a crime novel for everyone; for those who love traditional mysteries there are clues, codes and ciphers, but it also had a harder edge and a post-war darkness. A brilliant second outing for Persis Wadia

The Da Vinci Code meets post-Independence India. I'd be surprised if I read a better book this year

Persis is brave, admirable, complicated and maddening, and is one of the few superlative and original characters emerging from modern literature

As this charming series continues, readers will be cheering [Persis's] successes

A thoroughly enjoyable yarn, complete with atmospheric setting, intricate puzzle-solving and much derring-do

The second in this excellent series . . . a delicious treat of a historical crime novel

Early indications are that Vaseem Khan has struck gold by setting detective novels in 1950s Bombay. And that is why this is a gem of a novel

A wonderful, pacy, literary mystery

A hugely entertaining, devilishly clever and immersive murder mystery

Vaseem Khan is at the height of his powers in The Dying Day . . . First-rate story telling from a first-rate writer

Reminiscent of some of the classics of crime fiction

Another Mystery Solved in India

Enjoyed the female police officer who helped to solve the mystery of a lost manuscript in Bombay.

A good mystery

A great listen - well-plotted mystery, excellent narration, good characters. I like Persis, but I hope in the next books of the series she evolves a bit. She’s so angry and defensive, with good reason, but it gets a bit old after awhile. But I’ll keep listening!

Gripping story marred by anachronisms

I enjoyed the story but was frustrated by such anachronisms as fax machines and televisions in 1949.

learn the history of India as you unravel crime

i give this story 5 stars
Historicall yet puzzrling all with a bit of romance thrown in. only sorty it is recent so thete cant be another one yet to follow it. if youlike strong female leads you will enjoy this one

Great sequel to the first novel

I enjoyed this story as it builds very well upon the foundations of the first novel