Synopsis
The late Mrs. Shoba Popatkar was a beloved national figure, known throughout the subcontinent for her lifelong commitment to virtuous causes. But now her life has been brutally snuffed out, and the killer comes from a most unlikely place: the holy city of Banares where the waters of the Ganges hourly welcome thousands for the ultimate pilgrimage.
Inspector Ghote, sent from Bombay to Banares to investigate the peculiar circumstances surrounding her murder, feels only too keenly the official pressure to come up with a simple solution. Can he manage to satisfy both his superiors and his own need to discover the whole truth? Certainly, there are frustrating obstacles blocking his path as he doggedly makes his way through the throngs of the city's narrow lanes seeking the killer, not the least of which are the uncooperative local police officials.
Politely tenacious as ever, Ghote meets and discards a variety of possible suspects, concentrating finally on a wily cat-and-mouse game with the real culprit.
Reviews
This quiet, thoughtful novel by Gold Dagger winner Keating (Go West, Inspector Ghote) is crime fiction as philosophical disquisition-on right and wrong, ends and means, sin and redemption. From Bombay, the exquisitely courteous, ever persistent police detective, Inspector Ghote, travels to the holy city of Banaras to find the murderer of the much loved Mrs. Popatkar, "veteran freedom fighter, former Minister, upholder of a hundred good causes." In Banaras, H.K. Verma, respected political leader, frees himself from the sin of that murder (and its consequences) by bathing in the Ganges. The story continues with alternating points of view-Ghote gradually uncovering pieces of the puzzle and Verma longing to confess while simultaneously hatching schemes to foil the investigation. In spite of a leisurely pace befitting a country where foot-sore pilgrims, sacred cattle and auto rickshaws clog the roads, this is an absorbing tale and an illuminating tour of Banaras, its religious sites and ceremonies (and its brothels), with a distinctly Hindu denouement.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inspector Ganesh Ghote has barely had time to clear off his desk since Cheating Death (p. 888) when he's called out on the strangling of Mrs. Shoba Popatkar, late Minister of Railways and sempiternal do-gooder. Stuck for leads, Ghote follows the slender trail of Mrs. Popatkar's recent railway ticket to the holy city of Banares: a 28-hour pilgrimage over his superior's protests leaves him in a place he knows nothing about, home to 2,000 temples and garrulous old Inspector Mishra, who seems to have an anecdote about every one of them. Staggering under the weight of the irrelevantly sacred, Ghote doesn't know that his every misstep is bringing him closer to the rabbity villain, H. K. Verma, aspiring Minister for Social Upliftment, who killed Mrs. Popatkar before she could expose the ancient apostasy his political idol Krishnan Kalgutkar confessed in his unpublished Recollections. Ghote can't imagine how he could ever find the murderer with so few clues, or even bring home the crime to Verma after he becomes convinced of his guilt; Verma sweats bullets over the very sight of his nemesis. The result is a deadlock of puny antagonists with impossible spiritual burdens. Like The Iciest Sin (1990) and The Rich Detective (1992), another fable about the morality of detection. This time, though, Keating cuts his comic take on Simenon a little fine, relying too much on mangled language--a political poster urges, ``Please To Vote for Communist Party (Marxist'')--and Inspector Ghote's ineffable charm. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
One doesn't enjoy an Inspector Ghote mystery solely because of the delightfully odd variety of English as spoken by Indians. One probably doesn't read a Ghote story only because of the exotic settings. And the honest, dogged, and infinitely likable Bombay police inspector may not, by himself, be the main attraction. But all these factors combined make the series irresistible, and this latest installment is no exception. Mrs. Shoba Popatkar has been strangled after returning from a visit to Banares. The only clue is that someone speaking with a Banares accent asked directions to the victim's house the day of the murder. With only that slim lead, Ghote travels to Banares, where he is irritated by the talkative police liaison who seems determined to teach the inspector everything there is to know about the holy city. Finally, the frustrated Ghote is approached by a ragged American drug dealer with some information--but the price is more than the inspector is willing to pay. Vintage Ghote, not to be missed. Stuart Miller
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