Doing Wrong

Inspector Ghote #21

by H.R.F. Keating

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 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.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, India, Crime

218 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Henry Reymond Fitzwalter Keating was an English writer of crime fiction most notable for his series of novels featuring Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID.

H. R. F. KEATING was well versed in the worlds of crime, fiction and nonfiction. He was the crime books reviewer for The Times for fifteen years, as well as serving as the chairman of the Crime Writers Association and the Society of Authors. He won the CWA Gold Dagger Award twice, and in 1996 was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for outstanding service to crime fiction.

Series:
. Inspector Ghote
. Harriet Martens

Series contributed to:
. Malice Domestic
. Perfectly Criminal

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a detective story with very little mystery. Early in the book the reader learns who murdered Shoba Popatkar and why. The story unfolds alternately from the point of view of the detective and the murder. The book is largely a tour of the Indian city of Benares (Varanisi) and the Hindu death rituals practiced there.

[Lizzytish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Revisiting India with the inspector. A murder of an important lady has been strangled. The clues lead back to someone in Amare’s, a holy city where many flock to the Ganges. We know right away who the murderer is. The story alternates between Ghore and his thoughts, and the murderer and his thoughts and action. Much repetition! The customs surrounding the Ganges and funerals was interesting.

[Chris Leuchtenburg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in Bombay and the holy city of Banara, the story is redolent with indian food and spiritualism. The plot is reminiscent of Crime and Punishment as the narrator switches back and forth between the dogged detective Ghote and the guilty perpetrator. Somewhat repetitive, with no suspense, but I wonder whether any of the others in the series are any better.

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

half follows the detective doing his detecting; the other half follows the murderer and all his introspection and attempts to cover up his misdeeds. i'd rather have just read the detective's side (I don't need to spend that much time in a murder's psyche), so i think i need to try another in this series just to see if this was an aberration.