This the sixth book written by H.R.F. Keating detailing the trials and tribulations of Inspector Ganesh Ghote in his timeless quest to fight crime and bring about justice in Bombay.

In this story, Inspector Ghote finds himself sent far into the countryside to a small village to investigate a cold case, the mysterious death of the first wife of the Municipal Chairman.  Unfortunately for Ghote, the Municipal Chairman has the whole town in his pocket, bought and paid for to ensure that he always gets his way.  Ghote not only has to face very little aid from the villagers, but there is a whole anti-Ghote campaign headed up by a local holy man who has put himself on a hunger strike until Ghote goes home, even though it might kill him.

This story plays out as more of a ‘how-dunnit’ rather than a who-dunnit.  Ghote knows that the Municipal Chairman murdered his wife, and this is his search to find the clues he knows can prove him right.  Typical of any cold case, much of Ghote’s work is tracking down the people involved in the original situation, jogging memories from fifteen years ago and trying to track a paper trail.  He struggles through threats on his life, betrayals, and lips bought into silence, not to mention the manipulative holy man turning the town against him.  All of this, while Ghote is under the guise of an egg salesman with a garish box full of over-sized eggs, and with his Superintendent Inspector breathing down his neck over the phone from Bombay.

Keating uses charm and whimsy in one of his best Ghote stories.  Ghote is his usual straight-backed self, fighting the physical dirt of the countryside and the metaphorical grime of the criminal under current in society.  He applies his strong moral compass to a variety of situations, smoothing the waters between troubled sons and fathers, and abandoned wives, calling out caste climbers, corrupted officials and community leaders, and trying to do right by everyone, even though he is left working all on his own with no one to help him.  This book doesn’t do anything new to locked-room mysteries or cold cases, but it is a playful, fun read, and with a little suspense, some charm and silliness, this my favourite of the Inspector Ghote books.

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