The Satapur Moonstone

 The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey; 360 pages

The second in the Perveen Mistry series, inspired by the real-life first woman lawyer in India. What I loved about the first book in this series was the description of 1920s Bombay: the culture, the diversity, the food, etc., so I was initially disappointed that this book took Perveen Mistry out of the city and into an isolated world of royalty and wealth. But that didn't last long because the writer transported me to this world right away!

In this story, Perveen is called upon to meet with a royal family in India to resolve the educational path of its future monarch. She is selected primarily because the two women (the mother and grandmother of the future ruler) who cannot come to an agreement observe purdah and cannot meet with a male lawyer. Luckily, Perveen is smart and resourceful and soon finds that there is much more than just a disagreement in regards to schooling that is keeping the palace in turmoil. Between stolen jewels, hidden identities, poisoning attempts, and a possible love interest, Perveen has her work cut out for her. There's a lot happening in the plot, but I never lost the thread. In addition, moving the action out to the countryside of India allowed me to learn more about the small kingdoms of the time and the uneasy relationship between Indians and British colonialists.

I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.