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Review
Utterly loveable...Ghote is one of the great creations of detective fiction (Alexander McCall Smith )
Product Description
In the house of Lala Varde, a vast man of even greater influence, an attack has taken place. Varde's secretary, Mr Perfect, has been struck on his invaluable business head. And try as Inspector Ghote might to remain conscientious and methodical, his investigation is beset on all sides by cunning, disdain and corruption. And then there's the impossible theft of a single rupee to be dealt with . . .
The Perfect Murder introduced Inspector Ghote: Bombay CID's most dutiful officer, and one of the greatest, most engaging creations in all detective fiction.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I was surprised that I had never come across Keating and his Inspector Ghote before - this first novel was published in 1964. I read that Keating had died just last week when I had just started to read this novel!
I found it hard going at first - the broken English conversations were irritating but then I got used to them.
It is an old fashioned type of detective novel, Inspector Ghote is akin to Albert Campion or Roderick Alleyn and Ghote and Axel Svennson (the Swede from UNESCO)reminded me of Poirot and Hastings in some ways. This is a novel with "clues" but maybe the reader is not given enough of them to be able to try and solve the mystery. The people Ghote has to deal with are most odious. This is not a novel with gore, blood, swearing and evil monsters is a much more gentle read.
Ghote uses Gross's manual on crime - a real publication - Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe also uses a manual - hers I think is a fictitious one. Alexander McCall Smith wrote the introduction to this novel and I think he took some inspiration from Keating in creating Precious Ramotswe.
This is not the Perfect Murder - rather - the case of what happens to Mr Perfect - this is revealed in the beginning of the book so I am not giving away too much here.
Did I like the book? Still a little undecided - 3 and a half stars but not 4.
Would I read more Keating? Yes to see how Inspector Ghote develops in the next novel and then decide from there.
I found it hard going at first - the broken English conversations were irritating but then I got used to them.
It is an old fashioned type of detective novel, Inspector Ghote is akin to Albert Campion or Roderick Alleyn and Ghote and Axel Svennson (the Swede from UNESCO)reminded me of Poirot and Hastings in some ways. This is a novel with "clues" but maybe the reader is not given enough of them to be able to try and solve the mystery. The people Ghote has to deal with are most odious. This is not a novel with gore, blood, swearing and evil monsters is a much more gentle read.
Ghote uses Gross's manual on crime - a real publication - Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe also uses a manual - hers I think is a fictitious one. Alexander McCall Smith wrote the introduction to this novel and I think he took some inspiration from Keating in creating Precious Ramotswe.
This is not the Perfect Murder - rather - the case of what happens to Mr Perfect - this is revealed in the beginning of the book so I am not giving away too much here.
Did I like the book? Still a little undecided - 3 and a half stars but not 4.
Would I read more Keating? Yes to see how Inspector Ghote develops in the next novel and then decide from there.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I am reluctant to give this a poor review as in many ways it is a charming book and well written. But the plot is thin and I do believe it would have made a much better short story than a full length book.
Alexander McCall-Smith congratulates the author on being able to give a good picture of India despite not having been there, let alone lived there. To a certain extent he is right, but the individuals are caricatures of themselves and makes the author seem very slightly patronising. Perhaps it is meant to be funny but it isn't really. I don't think I would want to read another book in this series.
Alexander McCall-Smith congratulates the author on being able to give a good picture of India despite not having been there, let alone lived there. To a certain extent he is right, but the individuals are caricatures of themselves and makes the author seem very slightly patronising. Perhaps it is meant to be funny but it isn't really. I don't think I would want to read another book in this series.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I had high hopes for this novel. The premise was interesting and I like mystery and thriller novels. I also love to read about other cultures and so I was looking forward to reading this story set in India. To be honest I felt a little let down.
The plot started with promise - Inspector Ghote is given a murder case to investigate and is asked to take with him a Swedish criminologist who is there to report on the Bombay police department's functionality. He's also told to investigate the number one priority case of the theft of a rupee (yes one single rupee) from the Minister of Police Affairs' office. Along the way he is met with eccentric characters, unco-operative witnesses and lots of dead ends.
My problem was that all of the characters in this book irritated me in one way or another. I couldn't connect with any of them. There wasn't much characterisation of the protagonist and the unco-operativeness of the witnesses just made me want to scream. The plot moved along at a good pace but I think that the book could have been 100 pages shorter and the author still could have gotten in everything he needed to.
As to the conclusion, I normally love a mystery/thriller where I can try to piece the evidence together to see if I can solve it myself before the revelation, but it just wasn't possible with this book. I can't say too much without revealing spoilers so I will just say that I became very frustrated in the last third of the book.
This book did keep my interest but, ultimately, it was just average.
The plot started with promise - Inspector Ghote is given a murder case to investigate and is asked to take with him a Swedish criminologist who is there to report on the Bombay police department's functionality. He's also told to investigate the number one priority case of the theft of a rupee (yes one single rupee) from the Minister of Police Affairs' office. Along the way he is met with eccentric characters, unco-operative witnesses and lots of dead ends.
My problem was that all of the characters in this book irritated me in one way or another. I couldn't connect with any of them. There wasn't much characterisation of the protagonist and the unco-operativeness of the witnesses just made me want to scream. The plot moved along at a good pace but I think that the book could have been 100 pages shorter and the author still could have gotten in everything he needed to.
As to the conclusion, I normally love a mystery/thriller where I can try to piece the evidence together to see if I can solve it myself before the revelation, but it just wasn't possible with this book. I can't say too much without revealing spoilers so I will just say that I became very frustrated in the last third of the book.
This book did keep my interest but, ultimately, it was just average.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Real people, fake crime
This was the story that introduced Inspector Ghote to the reader, written by a man who had never been to the subcontinent - and wouldn't go there for a good while yet.... Read more
Published 2 months ago by R. A. Caton
Not what I'd call a classic, but pleasant enough.
The suggestion I suppose, from the quirky text on the back and the foreword by Alexander McCall Smith, is that readers of the "No. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Curlynob
Gentle post-colonian drama
The Inspector Ghote Mysteries are a series of gentle stories featuring a long-suffering Police Inspector in post-colonial Bombay. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Steve Benner
Mixed bag
Written in the 60s, this is a traditional type of detective novel, almost a 'cozy' in fact - terrible pun for the title! Read more
Published 9 months ago by George Rodger
The Perfect Murder? Maybe...
I'm finding it hard to write a review of this novel as I'm not at all sure what I thought of it! As others have said, style and tone wise it is very similar to Alexander McCall... Read more
Published 10 months ago by TickleOnTheTum
Old fashioned detective story...
I'd never heard of Inspector Ghote until I got this book so I didn't realize it had first been published all the way back in 1964. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Miss K
A gentle read, but a Classic?
I think that the main problem I have with this book is the fact that it is being published by Penguin as part of their "Modern Classics" series. Read more
Published 11 months ago by John Woodcock
The Perfect Anti-dote
HRF Keating never set foot in India until after the series of Inspectort Ghote novels were well established, so how did he write so knowledgeably about the Sub-Continent? Read more
Published 12 months ago by Donald Thompson
Source material for Mma Ramotswe...
This is a strange book to review - for a start it was first published in the 60's! It's the first in a series of novels about a police Inspector with the Bombay CID. Read more
Published 12 months ago by D. Thurgood
Imagining India
The 'Perfect Murder', as the papers label it, is in fact 'the assault on Mr Perfect' in the house of his employer Lala Verde late one night. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. R. J. Clark
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