----She's Such a Bright Girl, An American Story----, is the recounting of how Petula Caesar's African-American father praised her good grades and her light skin. He raised her to be deferential to white people and to see blacks as dangerous.Then, Sujata Massey’s novel ----The Widows of Malabar Hill,---- is set almost a century ago in what is now Mumbai, India. Her heroine is a pioneering lawyer who comes upon murder, kidnapping and a secret passageway as she investigates a suspicious will.