Explore the real-world places that appear in A Murder on Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Malabar Hill, Towers of Silence, Mistry Law Offices (Fort District), Bombay High Court, University of Bombay and Rajabai Clock Tower and 3 more.
Southern Mumbai — Wealthy hilltop district and the novel's murder setting
Malabar Hill is the setting of the central mystery. Perveen Mistry, Bombay's first woman solicitor, visits a Muslim household here in 1921 to review the estate of the late mill owner Omar Farid on behalf of her father's firm. The widows of the household observe purdah, so Perveen can speak to them in ways her male colleagues cannot. Her visit leads to the discovery of a murder and a tangle of inheritance questions.
Malabar Hill has been one of Bombay's most prestigious residential areas since the British colonial era, home to merchants, officials and Parsi, Hindu and Muslim elites. Its elevated position gave it sea breezes and views over Back Bay. Colonial-era bungalows and mansions were built along its ridge.
Malabar Hill is still one of Mumbai's most expensive neighborhoods, with high-rise apartments, the Maharashtra Chief Minister's residence and several gardens. Most old mansions are private, but the hill can be explored on foot or by car.
Malabar Hill — Parsi funerary site tied to Perveen's community
Perveen is a Parsi, and her community's customs, including its funerary traditions, form part of the book's cultural background. Malabar Hill's Parsi presence shapes how she moves between her own community and the Muslim household she visits for the case.
The Doongerwadi estate on Malabar Hill has served Mumbai's Zoroastrian Parsi community for roughly two centuries as the site of its dakhmas, or Towers of Silence. The surrounding forested land was set aside for this purpose in the 19th century.
The site remains an active, sacred Parsi funerary ground. It is closed to non-Parsis and the public, and the surrounding forest is kept private.
Fort, South Mumbai — Perveen's family law firm
Perveen works as a solicitor in her father Jamshedji Mistry's law firm in Bombay's Fort district. She is among the first women in India to practice law, and she faces skepticism from clients and colleagues. The firm's handling of the Farid estate sends her to Malabar Hill and into the heart of the mystery.
The Fort district was the commercial and legal heart of colonial Bombay, developed around the old British fort after its walls were demolished in the 1860s. Law firms, banks and merchant houses clustered in its Victorian and Gothic Revival buildings.
Fort remains South Mumbai's business and legal district, with many offices in heritage buildings. The firm is fictional, but the district's atmosphere can still be experienced on its streets.
Fort — The legal heart of colonial Bombay
Bombay's courts form the backdrop for Perveen's legal career. Her ambitions to argue cases are held back by rules limiting women's access to the bar. The novel uses this world of judges, barristers and solicitors to show the obstacles she faces.
The Bombay High Court building was completed in 1878 in Gothic Revival style, designed by Joseph Augustus Fuller. It is one of India's oldest high courts, established in 1862.
The building remains the seat of the Bombay High Court and an architectural landmark of South Mumbai. Public access is restricted, but the exterior can be admired from the surrounding streets.
Visit: Bombay High Court (landmark)
Fort campus — Perveen's academic roots
Perveen's education began in Bombay before she went on to study law at Oxford. The University of Bombay represents the institutional path open to a Parsi woman of her generation, and the city's reform-minded Parsi families made her career possible.
The University of Bombay was founded in 1857, and its Fort campus includes the Rajabai Clock Tower, completed in 1878 and designed by George Gilbert Scott. The tower was funded by the banker Premchand Roychand.
The Fort campus of the University of Mumbai is still in use, and the Rajabai Clock Tower is a prominent heritage landmark. The grounds and exteriors can be seen from adjacent gardens such as Oval Maidan.
Visit: Rajabai Clock Tower (landmark)
Oxford, England — Where Perveen studied law
Perveen's backstory takes her to Oxford, where she studied law and became one of the first Indian women to earn a law degree there. The England chapters shape her independence, her confidence, and her sense of the limits she meets on her return to Bombay.
Somerville College was founded in 1879 as one of the first women's colleges at Oxford. Women were formally allowed to take Oxford degrees in 1920.
Somerville is a college of the University of Oxford and is now coeducational. Visitors can usually see parts of the grounds during open hours, subject to college rules.
Visit: Somerville College (landmark)
Fort — Bombay's grand railway station
As Bombay's great railway terminus in 1921, Victoria Terminus is part of the city's busy backdrop in the novel. It stands for the movement of people and goods through colonial Bombay, where Perveen's work and social life unfold.
The station was designed by Frederick William Stevens and completed in 1888 in Victorian Gothic style, blended with Indian architectural elements. It was named Victoria Terminus for Queen Victoria and later renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The station remains one of Mumbai's busiest, serving suburban and long-distance trains. Visitors can admire its facade and interior, and heritage tours are sometimes offered.
Visit: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (landmark)
Girgaum, below Malabar Hill — Bombay's seafront gathering place
Chowpatty lies at the foot of Malabar Hill, and the seafront is part of the city landscape that frames Perveen's journeys between the Fort district and the hill. It captures the setting of 1920s Bombay, where communities mingled by the sea.
Girgaum Chowpatty on Back Bay has been a social gathering spot for Bombay residents since the 19th century. It is also associated with the immersion of Ganesh idols during the annual Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
Chowpatty Beach is a popular public seafront known for its evening crowds and street food stalls, especially bhel puri. It is open to the public at all times.
Visit: Girgaum Chowpatty (park)
More by Sujata Massey: All Sujata Massey books
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