Author:H. R. F. Keating,Alexander McCall-Smith
In a small, provincial town in the heart of India, a politician's wife has done her husband's career a great service, by dying under suspicious circumstances. That the corpse and the trail have been cold for fifteen years hasn't saved Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID from being sent to investigate. But what chance does he have when his chief suspect is so powerful, when the whole district is against him, and when a holy man is fasting to the death to protest his prying?
But still the good inspector dutifully goes, carrying just the honour of his police force and a box of double-sized eggs . . .
Utterly loveable...Ghote is one of the great creations of detective fiction
—— Alexander McCall SmithA startlingly intelligent, perceptive and entertaining piece of fiction. It's quite brilliant.
—— Henry Sutton, Daily MirrorAli's third-person princess is a very convincing and sympathetic figure. The cat-and-mouse play between Lydia and [the paparazzo] Grabowski is extremely skilfully done.
—— Tibor Fischer, ObserverA terrific, clever, multi-layered and subtle book (and let's not forget - hugely entertaining!)
—— Joanne HarrisThe twists, turns and triple crosses will have you hooked... a truly manipulative storyteller
—— Peterborough Evening TelegraphA penetrating examination of cause and effect... the characters are well drawn, the action bloodthirsty and the end satisfying
—— Lincolnshire EchoGoddard is a master of the sly double and triple cross
—— Seattle TimesA compulsive read ... ingenious and deftly-handled
—— New HumanistIt is certainly the best novel I've read so far this year, and should mark Zeh as one of Europe's brightest younger novelists
—— Crime TimeInteresting and original novel
—— Literary ReviewClever and gripping
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent Summer ReadsEvery chapter is taut, suspenseful, almost Hitchcock-esque. Zeh's style is fluent but also elegantly sparse... An absolute gem of a book.
—— The BookbagFrom every angle - character study, philosophical discussion or straightforward plot - it shines with crystalline intensity, and so far as one can tell, nothing is lost in the translation. Complex and supremely elegant, this is a book to relish
—— Joanna Hines , GuardianThis is a book and a half
—— Giles Broadbent , Wharf