2.0

2.5 ✭

Nope, didn't really care for this tale.

The feeling that this wasn't written by a native born Indian (& I was right)

The writing was very heavy handed, clumsy and amateurish. Too much telling, not showing - & done repetitively.

...This last was directed at her son-in-law, against whom she had always held a grudge for not being Jagirdar Mohan Vishwanath Deshmukkk, landowner and erstwhile suitor of her daughter.


We know!!! Halfway through the book & this has already been mentioned several times. Khan isn't big on subtlety. Every point in this book is sledgehammered across. Multiple times.

A couple of things the proofreader should have picked up.

There were two men in the room, sitting at the small table that Chopra had seen before.


The idea that an Inspector who had retired from the police force through ill health would decide that chasing after underworld figures was a way to restore himself to good health. The feeble way the
Spoilerbaby sub plot was resolved. I had the feeling that Khan had decided (correctly) that this was an unnecessary complication - so why not delete from the book altogether?
The whole book swung uneasily between an Indian version of a cosy & a much darker, sadder story.

I did like Chopra himself, an upright man in a corrupt world.

But the only thing I really loved was Ganesha the baby elephant who is foisted on Chopra. The scene where Chopra has Ganesha
Spoileron a lead & starts to follow a supect
- that made me laugh till I cried. & if the author wanted to show Chopra's wife Poppy's caring side - her relationship with the depressed Ganesha does that far more effectively than the scene I have spoilered.

My library does have [b:The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown|26227647|The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation #2)|Vaseem Khan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452488083s/26227647.jpg|46212925] I may try that to see if the author does resolve the problems with his writing style - which I did find very amateurish.

2✭ bumped up to 2.5✭ for Ganesha.



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