The royal ladies (grandmother and mother) are in dispute over the education of the young crown prince and a lawyer's counsel is required. This book is about the Satapur's royal family, whose maharaja died of a sudden illness, as well as his teenage son, died in a tragic hunting accident. Wonderfully engaging story, although fictional, a lot to learn, about for example purdah, women living separate and not speaking to men. I loved, loved this 2nd book about woman lawyer Perveen Mistry, set in the princely state of Satapur, tucked away in the remote Sahyadri mountains. In addition to writing, she loves to travel, read, cook, garden and walk. Sujata lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her family and two dogs. For more about Sujata's books and a full events schedule, subscribe to her newsletter, Sujata's other works include THE SLEEPING DICTIONARY (2013) and eleven Rei Shimura mysteries published from 1997-2014. The second Perveen novel, THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE, won the Bruce Alexander Best Historical Mystery Award in 2020. Additionally, the book won the Bruce Alexander Best Historical Mystery Award, the Agatha Award for Best Historical Mystery and the Mary Higgins Clark Award, all in 2019. THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL, the first Perveen novel, was named a Best Mystery/Thriller of 2018 and also an Amazon Best Mystery/Thriller of 2018. In June, 2021, THE BOMBAY PRINCE, third book in the series, releases in the US/Canada and Australia/New Zealand it will be published by Penguin India later the same month.

She is best known for the Perveen Mistry series published in the United States by Soho Press and in India by Penguin Random House India. Sujata Massey is the author of historical and mystery fiction set in Asia. But whose? And how can she protect the royal children from the palace’s deadly curse? Too late, she realizes she has walked into a trap. Perveen is determined to bring peace to the royal house and make a sound recommendation for the young prince’s future, but she arrives to find that the Satapur palace is full of cold-blooded power plays and ancient vendettas. Just one person can help Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female lawyer. However, the maharanis live in purdah and do not speak to men. The royal ladies are in a dispute over the education of the young crown prince, and a lawyer’s counsel is required. The state is now ruled by an agent of the British Raj on behalf of Satapur’s two maharanis, the dowager queen and her daughter-in-law. A curse seems to have fallen upon Satapur’s royal family, whose maharaja died of a sudden illness shortly before his teenage son was struck down in a tragic hunting accident.

India, 1922: It is rainy season in the lush, remote Sahyadri mountains, where the princely state of Satapur is tucked away.

The highly anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed novel The Widows of Malabar Hill.

The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey