Sujata Massey is an American mystery author and historical fiction novelist. Her books are published in English in the US and Canada, the United Kingdom and India, and Australia/New Zealand. Massey’s novels are also available in different languages and formats in Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain and Thailand. The author’s

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''The Salaryman’s Wife'', won the

Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expli ...

for Best First Novel in 1997. In 2000, her novel ''The Flower Master'' won the

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

for Best Mystery Novel. In 2019, her first Perveen Mistry novel, ''The Widows of Malabar Hill,'' won the

Mary Higgins Clark Award The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award, established in 2001, is an American literary award, presented as part of the Edgar Awards. The award was created to honor author of suspense novels, Mary Higgins Clark. To be eligible for the Simon ...

, as well the Left Coast Crime Convention’s Bruce Alexander Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery, the

Macavity Macavity the Mystery Cat, also called the Hidden Paw, is a fictional character in T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats''. He also appears in the Andrew Lloyd Webber 1981 musical ''Cats'', which is based on Elio ...

’s Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery, and the

for Best Historical Novel. It was selected for

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2018 and was also an Amazon Best Book of 2018. In 2020, ''The Widows of Malabar Hill'' was optioned for development as a television series by the Village Road Show Entertainment Group. The second Perveen Mistry novel, ''The Satapur Moonstone,'' won a Bruce Alexander Memorial Award and was also a finalist for both The Sue Grafton Memorial Award and the Harper Lee Legal Fiction Prize.

Life and career

Massey was born in 1964 in

Sussex, England Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English C ...

to a father from India and mother from Germany. She emigrated with her family to the United States at the age of five and grew up in St. Paul Minnesota. At 18, she moved to

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, where she studied at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in the Writing Seminars in 1986. She next worked at the ''Baltimore'' ''Evening Sun'' newspaper, leaving the paper in 1991 to move to Japan for two years. In Japan, she worked as an English teacher and studied Japanese, flower arranging, and cooking. Ms. Massey returned to the United States in 1993 and began a new career in 1997, when her first book, ''The Salaryman’s Wife'', was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

USA. This series of 11 books features a biracial heroine, Rei Shimura, and deals with social issues and the rich artistic heritage of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The most recent Rei Shimura novel is ''The Kizuna Coast,'' set in tsunami-ravaged Tohoku. In the late 1990s through 2020, Massey traveled frequently to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and became intrigued with the history of Indian women in late British colonial India. In 2013, she released a standalone mystery novel titled ''The Sleeping Dictionary'' set in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

between 1930 and 1947. In this novel, a 10-year-old peasant girl, Pom, orphaned by a cyclone, undertakes an odyssey through colonial Bengal that leads her into an adult life as a freedom fighter. In India, the same book is titled ''City of Palaces.'' Massey continues to explore early 20th century India with her best-known work, a legal mystery series set in 1920s

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. It starts with a first novel, ''The Widows of Malabar Hill,'' that centers on a young female

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

woman lawyer who battles discrimination in her own career and in the lives of women and children she assists. The book’s protagonist, Perveen Mistry, was partially inspired by India’s first two trailblazing women lawyers, the solicitor

Cornelia Sorabji Cornelia Sorabji (15 November 1866 – 6 July 1954) was an Indian lawyer, social reformer and writer. She was the first female graduate from Bombay University, and the first woman to study law at Oxford University. Returning to India after her ...

and the barrister

Mithan Jamshed Lam Mithan Jamshed Lam (1898–1981) was an Indian lawyer, social activist and the Sheriff of Mumbai. She was the first Indian woman barrister and the first Indian woman lawyer at the Bombay High Court. She was a member of the All India Women's Con ...

. In the second book, ''The Satapur Moonstone'', Perveen solves a mystery in the fictional princely state of Satapur. The third book, ''The Bombay Prince'', to be published in June 2021, has Perveen investigating the death of a young Indian woman during the Prince of Wales Riots that occurred in Bombay in November 1921. A prequel novella featuring Perveen Mistry is entitled “Outnumbered at Oxford” and presents a short mystery that occurs during her student years in England.

The Perveen Mistry Investigations

''The Widows of Malabar Hill''
(Soho Crime, January 2018) , (released under the title ''Murder on Malabar Hill'' in India'','' and as ''A Murder at Malabar Hill'' in Australia/New Zealand) *
The Satapur Moonstone
' (Soho Crime, May 2019) *
The Bombay Prince
' (Soho Crime, June 2021) *
The Mistress of Bhatia House
' (Soho Crime, July 2023) The Perveen Mistry novels were published in audio by

Recorded Books Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia, a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an ...

for distribution in the United States and Canada, and published by other companies as audiobooks in India, France and Finland.

The Rei Shimura Novels

*''The Salaryman's Wife'' (1997) *''Zen Attitude'' (1998) *''The Flower Master'' (1999) *''The Floating Girl'' (2000) *''The Bride's Kimono'' (2001) *''The Samurai's Daughter'' (2003) *''The Pearl Diver'' (2004) *''The Typhoon Lover'' New York: Harper, 2005. , *''Girl in a Box'' (2006) *''Shimura Trouble'' London: Severn House, 2008. , *''The Kizuna Coast'' (December 2014) ''The Salaryman’s Wife, Zen Attitude'' and ''The Flower Master'' were published as audiobooks by

Tantor Media RBMedia is an audiobook publishing company with sales globally. It claims to be the largest audiobook publisher in the world. It was founded in 2017 through the acquisitions of independent audiobook companies. The companies, which now operate as ...

for distribution in the United States and Canada.

Stand Alone Books

*''

The Sleeping Dictionary ''The Sleeping Dictionary'' is a 2003 British-American romantic drama film written and directed by Guy Jenkin and starring Hugh Dancy, Jessica Alba, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer, and Bob Hoskins. The film is about a young Englishman who is sent ...

'' (Simon & Schuster, August 2013) (Released by PenguinIndia with the title ''The City of Palaces''. ''The Sleeping Dictionary'' audiobook was produced by Dreamscape Media.)

Short fiction

Short fiction Featuring Rei Shimura “Junior High Samurai,” ''Malice Domestic 10'', Avon, 2001 “The Convenience Boy,” ''Tart Noir'', Pan MacMillan 2002 “The Deepest Blue,” ''Murder Most Crafty,'' Berkeley Prime Crime 2005 Short fiction featuring Perveen Mistry “Hairpin Holiday” (short story) ''The Usual Santas'', Soho Crime, 2017 “Outnumbered at Oxford” (novella) ''India Gray Historical Fiction'', Ikat Press, 2015 Other Short Fiction “Goodwood Gardens,” ''Baltimore Noir,'' Akashic Books, 2006 “The Mayor’s Movie,” ''Politics Noir'', Verso Books, 2008 “India Gray,” “Bitter Tea (originally titled as ‘The Mayor’s Movie’),” “The Ayah’s Tale” (novella), all published within ''India Gray Historical Fiction,'' Ikat Press, 2015

References

External links

Official siteMystery Woman
Nirali Magazine, September 2004 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Massey, Sujata 1964 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists British emigrants to the United States American mystery writers American women novelists Agatha Award winners Macavity Award winners People from Sussex Johns Hopkins University alumni Women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers