This is first in a series about Detective Darko Dawson of Accra in Ghana. I have wanted to read this book ever since I saw it in a bookstore a couple of years ago and I was thrilled to be able to dip into it when I came across the audio version this summer.

I don’t mind telling you that when I first listened to it, I was interrupted three-quarters of the way in and had to set the book aside. I didn’t really mind because midway through the novel I found myself wondering if I should trust Darko Dawson: he turned out to be a a less disciplined police officer than I d and used physical force in a truly unsettling way—so that I thought he was unreliable and unsympathetic.

Later, I realized I couldn’t write a review. I was unhappy with the novel, but had taken no quotes to buttress my reaction, so I reread the hardcover, paying especial attention to those areas I thought the central character out of line. Shortly after the point at which I put the book down the first time, I discovered the main character’s activities were wise disparaged by his boss, who also happened to be “the authorities.” Darko was suspended from work, and censored. That soothed my ruffled feathers and sense of justice, and I finished the book thinking it was a prime example of intercultural learning: the author had written a western-style police procedural set in Ghana, a country with very different cultural mores and habits. I thought it a great success.

The story is as follows: A female AIDS-worker who walks between villages is found strangled in the jungle. Suspected are young men who have shown interest in her single status, AIDS carriers who deny their own status, a local herbalist who suspects she seeks to steal his secrets. Life in Ghana is different, very different, from western life-styles, but murder has the usual suspects: greed, jealousy, sex, money, and resentment or vengeance.

One thing that surprised me was the shock and dismay of a Ghanaian discovering someone was having sex in the jungle. I would have thought that would be a logical place to go if one couldn’t use one’s own home. But no:”Intimacy in the forest was all right with the gods provided it took place under a roof of some kind.” Consequently, four poles and a tarp kept everyone happy.

When reading mystery novels set in countries other than one’s own, the reader may enjoy many details of everyday life that bring an unfamiliar region to life. Quartey was successful in introducing us to life in Ghana, but his writing had neither the gentle philosophical guidance of an author Alexander McCall-Smith (writing about Botswana), nor the furious pace and insistent characterizations of an author Deon Meyer (writing about South Africa). However, the cultural detail here is fascinating and authentic-sounding and I think the author has broken new ground. When one is not merely copying someone else’s style, one may legitimately be called “an original.”

The audio version of this novel was narrated by Simon Prebble. Simon Prebble is a five-star audiobook reader and I think he did a fabulous job reading the Dick Francis novels, my first real foray into audiobooks. For a long time afterward I only wanted books he read. However, in the case of this book, I didn’t think his plummy voice suited the characters of this novel, and wished the audio publishers had made a greater effort to find someone with an appropriate accent for the region.
audio fiction mysteries31 s Jenny (Reading Envy)3,876 3,511

After finishing another book set in Ghana, Homegoing, I thought I should go back to this book. I first started it back in July 2015, when I included it in a pile of books I was "speed dating." It passed the 50 page test and went back on the shelf until now. I'm still working my way through reading a book from every country, and now Ghana is covered!

This is a solid crime novel featuring Darko Dawson, who is called in from Accra to help with an investigation of the murder of an AIDS relief worker. His investigation reveals police corruption, multiple suspects, and it takes a while to unravel the stories. What I about reading a crime novel set in another country is how much the author can include about the culture. Food, history, traditions, family structure, politics.. it's all here! One major element becomes about the fetish priest and belief in spells/magic in the village, something that is still true in some parts of Ghana and making the investigation more complicated.
africa2016 around-the-world location-africa ...more13 s Cindy Burnett (Thoughts from a Page)614 1,043

I am always looking for a new mystery series to start and recently took the recommendation of Michael Sears, one half of the writing duo Michael Stanley, and tried the Detective Dawson series by Kwei Quartey. Set in Ghana, the series focuses on the local culture, cuisine, customs, and everyday issues facing Ghanians today while also tackling clever and original crimes and mysteries that contain some elements that are universal and other aspects that are uniquely relevant to Ghana. Wife of the Gods is a window into another part of the world about which I know very little, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I look forward to starting the next one very soon.

For more , check out my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/thoughtsfro... and my newsletter: https://www.cfapage.net/subscribe.13 s Lata4,120 232

This police detective-led mystery set in Ghana is enjoyable. Darko Dawson is sent to a village to investigate the death of a young medical student. He's particular in his methods, has a known anger problem, and a lingering grief over the unexplained disappearance of his mother when he was a boy. Darko's investigation leads to a few unpleasant people, and while they have great motives, Darko remains stumped and frustrated with the way the case progresses. The resolution finally lays one of Darko's ghosts to rest.
I enjoyed this little window into a small part of Ghana, and think I'd to continue this series.bipoc-actor bipoc-author mystery ...more15 s Skip3,367 529

I d this novel much better than another Ghaniain author's Tail of the Blue Bird. Darko Dawson is a police inspector in Accra, who is called to investigate the death of a young female AIDS worker in a village where his mother disappeared many years prior. The author sets up four possible suspects: a young boy, the high priest, the holistic medicine man, and the girl's boss, and does a respectable job integrating modern life with varioud tribal beliefs. There are some good underlying stories, tension among the policemen, and family matters. Will definitely read the other books.crime-detective e-books foreign-translated11 s switterbug (Betsey)881 1,039

The story of a West African detective in Ghana begins with a weak prologue--a nightmare squeezed from the pages of former dime-store books. The following (first) chapter opens with promise--a dead body. Then the author tries too hard to tell the story. That's the problem--too much telling and not enough showing. The sentences read announcements or headlines and the prose is shopworn and musty, hauled from a high-school creative writing course. The author is also on an adverb and gerund frenzy (in the same sentences!), which bogs down the narrative to a watery substance. Sentences are lifeless and clunky and contain no fresh turns of phrase or descriptive power. This is a typical passage, not an exception to the rule:

"He loved to sit on her lap with his head resting against her while he played with the gold necklace she always wore and never removed. The pendant was a little butterfly, because she loved butterflies."

The author states the obvious ad nauseam. Here I go again with another example (he is describing cars now):

"...and the most ostentatiously obnoxious of them all, Hummers."

We know that Hummers are ostentatious and obnoxious.

"Razor-thin" and "the broiling sun" or "the scorching sun." Physical descriptions are jejune and often inserted into unmanageable sentences:

"Her forehead was high, as were her lovely cheekbones, her nose straight yet flared, and her lips were rich."

"Sometimes, when she looked at her son, at his tallness, his strength, his beauty, she felt a jolt, a shock as she realized that she had him and that he was real and not just a vision. He was her jewel. He made her heart hurt."

"With the vision of a hawk..."

More:

"...it stabbed Efia a red-hot dagger and she jumped visibly."

"It was tearing at her heart..."

"She was pretty, with a heart-shaped face and lovely skin."


The writing is wholly derivative and amatuer; it reads a first draft-(the stuff you write before you clean it up.) The tone is flat and without a style. Aesthetics are absent--the author fails to convey the sensory component of writing--the power of choice words and the art of connecting them in vital and vigorous passages.

The locale and subject matter of the novel enticed me--I love novels with an African geography and culture. But this book had no seasoning--just sentences sputtering with a dull thud. I thought it would have piquant passages depicting an exotic ambience. Instead, you get trumpeted exposition that prevents a mood from emerging and an atmosphere from ascending. No nuance, no style. There is an agenda here--to educate us about the disenfranchised culture of a marginalized community. It is as if he forgot he was writing a novel and began writing a polemical magazine article about the trials and tribulations of living in Arccra (capital of Ghana)--but there was no flair there. Even as a magazine article, it would flail. So many lost opportunities to create a rich atmosphere with a tasty blend of textures. But there is no sensory substance or strength to the prose. Sentences are hamstrung together with a fingerless hand.

The story is diluted by the various loud pronouncements of Ghanian life. (Subtlety is absent.) What could have been charming was churning and dull. The author never leaves your side--and he doesn't trust us to get it unless he delivers it with hammer-blows and drives it on with re-treads. Tension was absent, suspense was suspended for lack of imagination. The novel isn't taut--it's trite and forced.

The dialogue/banter between Darky Dawson and his colleagues is puerile and corny. Again, no texture--just banal bluster. This is the second book from the Vine shelf this month (that I have read) that was marketed improperly. It was described as "crisp." And "great artistry." Crisp? An English professor or competent editor would keel after seeing these unwieldy, soggy sentences. Apparently, editing wasn't a priority with this novel. Great artistry? Who is writing these blurbs? It was pallid, ready-made. It is written a drugstore-shelf mystery--clichéd and hokey. Are publishers getting more cynical or just more desperate?

The only positive strokes I can offer are to workshop it. This reads an early draft. It needs several more to trim the fat and polish the prose. Although my review is blunt and brutal, it is honest. I see only 4 and 5-star (so far) and I am puzzled--did they receive an improved manuscript? A later draft? I risk being highly unpopular with my solitary and excoriating criticism. Negative are not appreciated by many voters on Amazon, but astute literature lovers may welcome a frank assessment.
For a smart, polished, and contoured African detective story, read A Beautiful Place to Die: A Novel, by Malla Nunn.


10 s Infosifter391 32

Darko Dawson is a police officer in Accra, Ghana. In this mystery, he is sent to a rural part of the country to solve the murder of a young woman. Traditional culture and values clash with modern ideas about medicine and science, while Dawson is also struggling with some personal problems including anger management issues and a weakness for marijuana. I have some friends from Ghana, so I enjoyed this peek into the Local culture, as well as a good mystery.7 s Beth123 14



WIFE OF THE GODS is two stories. The first story begins with the discovery of the body of Gladys Mensah in the forest outside the town of Ketanu. Gladys is a medical student and a volunteer AIDS worker. Efia finds the body early one morning. “Efia was a trokosi, which meant she belonged to the gods.” In Efia’s life that means belonging to Togbe Adzima, the chief and the High Priest of the village. Eighteen years earlier, Efia’s uncle murdered a man and, although he is in prison, the family has been cursed with unending signs of the gods displeasure. Desperate for a reversal of fortune, the elders of her family go to the high priest, asking him to intercede on their behalf so that there torment will be ended. Togbe communes with the gods and learns that all will be well if they bring him a female child to serve at the shrine. She will belong to the gods and she will give birth to the children they give her through Togbe. At the age of twelve, Efia becomes a wife of the gods. Gladys and Efia belong to two different worlds but in a small town in Ghana, their stories come together through fear and superstition.

Detective Inspector Darko Dawson is assigned to the homicide division of the CID in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Darko has a wife and a son, a brother and a father, and he is a thoroughly modern man. But he also has ties to Ketanu. His mother was born in the village and his aunt and uncle are living there. Most importantly, from his superior’s point of view, is that Darko speaks Ewe, the local dialect. Darko is not happy to return to Ketanu. When he was 12 years old, his mother disappeared on her way home from a visit to her sister. Darko has been haunted by dreams of his mother and he has spent his life ever since trying to understand what happened to her. Darko’s story is the second story that is woven with the first to produce a very satisfying book that owes it resolution as much to Darko’s response to the sounds he hears as it is to modern police work.

There is a large cast of characters in WIFE OF THE GODS, all in some way touched by superstition and the practices of an old culture. Darko is especially sensitive to the sounds of speech. He can hear a lie in a voice. Despite Gladys’ efforts as an AIDS educator, some believe that AIDS is caused by a curse. Faith healers prey on desperate people. Secrets are hidden until they cry out to be spoken. Greed and jealousy are as old humanity and as new as the next breath. Lust and love lead to obsession. And there are the trokosi who have no way to flee from the brutality they face as a WIFE OF THE GODS.

Kwei Quartey was born in Ghana, the son of a Ghanaian man and an African-American woman. When his father died, he moved to the United States with his mother and he is now a practicing physician in California. In researching his book, he looked at all aspects of the culture, including the trokosi. Although the practice has been outlawed, it has not disappeared because many in Ghana still believe is the power of the chiefs and high priests. The media has made known practices that violate human rights but the trokosis have yet to come to light in the main stream media.7 s Lulu985 128

2.5=

1. A Ghanaian mystery! Yay!!
2. An extremely slow read.
3. Way too much fluff, but it was kinda interesting.
4. Predictable...except for that part. Yeah, didn't see that coming.
5. Darko Dawson is so blah, not appealing in anyway.
8 s Friederike Knabe400 167

"What if the truth is more terrible than the forest?"

Darko, the child is frightened as the mother disappears into nothing; Darko Dawson, the adult, has a recurring dream: his mother walks with him through the forest and urges him along... It is not any forest, but a forest he remembers from his childhood, near the village of Ketanu, the place where his mother disappeared all these years ago. A powerful beginning for Kwei Quartey's debut novel, "Wife of the Gods", no question. And the village and the forest around, beautifully evoked, take centre stage for the action when Darko, now a Detective Inspector, returns to "assist" the local police in a murder investigation. Not being generally drawn to crime or police procedural stories, I have recently been intrigued by several of those by African writers, eg. Moussa Konate (Mali), Michael Stanley (South Africa). In fact, I have found that their ability to successfully embed a fast-moving murder mystery into a broader-based portrayal of a complex community, allows us glimpses, or more, into the social and cultural diversity of their society. Kwei Quartei follows this emerging African genre with his story, set in the Volga region of northern Ghana, an area where long-held beliefs clash with modern (urban) convictions, where a traditional healer and a fetish priest can have more power over the local people than any efforts to apply justice and/or to protect innocents.

The novels title, 'Wife of the Gods', refers to an old local tradition, the "trokosi": young girls are "offered" to the fetish priest to sacrifice their lives at the religious shrine to atone for a crime comitted by one member of their family. When they are old enough, the young women serve the priest in every way and bear his children. Gladys Mensah, a volunteer with the Ghana Health Service, has been supporting the "wives" in whatever way possible. The spread of AIDS is one serious concern to her. One day Gladys is found dead in the forest and DI Darko Dawson is sent from Accra to ensure that the guilty person is convicted of the crime...

Darko is a personable sort of character, a family man, usually jovial, yet with a few flaws of character, and his own sense of justice - sometimes. His assignment takes him back to that forest of his childhood nightmares and Ketanu, the village that he had not visited in 25 years, since his mother didn't return from a stay at her sister's place there. There is much ground to cover in this novel, starting with the murder suspects, the victim and her environment, and the fetish priest, his "trokosi" and their surroundings to the actual details of the murder investigation. While, understandably in a cross-genre novel this, not all aspects can be covered with as much detail or depth as I for one would have d, Quartey does provide good insight into the conflict affecting remote rural communities Ketanu. At the same time, I found the essence of the murder mystery component less satisfactory. After some detractions and sidelining leads, Dawson seems to be less smart than the reader in identifying the real culprit. The ending was predictable and somewhat disappointing for me. Still, this being Quartey's first foray into the world of fiction and murder mysteries, I am looking forward to DI Dawson's next adventure.africa african-lit6 s Book Concierge2,923 366

Digital audiobook performed by Simon Prebble.

First in a series featuring Detective Inspector Darko Dawson of Accra, Ghana. Dawson is a dedicated family man with a loving wife and a charming, if medically fragile, young son. He’s also somewhat of a rebel in the police force and frequently at odds with his cantankerous boss. He’s not happy about his new assignment in remote area of Ghana; a young woman – a promising medical student and AIDS worker – has been found dead in a jungle area near the small town of Ketanu. The local police are not equipped to handle an investigation this, and Dawson, who has relatives in the town, is fluent in the local indigenous language. But what he uncovers brings up many memories of his own mother, who disappeared without a trace after a visit to her sister in Ketnau.

Oh, I am going to this series! Darko is a principled man, but he has his demons, and he seeks solace in smoking marijuana. He’s also sometimes prone to resorting to his own brand of vigilante justice. But there’s no denying that he’s a talented – and tenacious – detective. The way he ferrets out small clues and pieces the puzzle together is marvelously portrayed. There are plenty of suspects and motives and a compelling subplot to keep the reader off balance and guessing.

I also really appreciated the information on the cultural ideologies and customs of this small corner of Ghana. There’s a significant clash between traditional beliefs and modern-day medicine. And Dawson also needs to tread carefully in the political minefield that is the turf of the areas leaders, who, if not exactly corrupt, are certainly misguided and provincial in their thinking.

Simon Prebble does a marvelous job reading the audiobook. He really brings these characters to life.
africa audio concierge ...more6 s She Reads for Jesus204 38

Any attempts of becoming dissatisfied with this book will be close to impossible. For, Wife of the Gods is that impressive of a narrative. Consisting of suspense, mystery, and adventure, it is not surprising that Kwei Quartey gained noteworthy attention for this gripping novel.

Wife of the Gods is a spellbinding mystery, set in Ghana and taking place within the vigorous capitol of Accra and small town of Ketanu. Readers are introduced to the main character, Detective Darko Dawson, living contentedly in Accra as a Detective Inspector, when he is summoned to Ketanu to investigate the startling murder of a young village woman. The victim is Gladys Mensah, a promising medical student and AIDS activist, who is found murdered by a nearby village woman. The assignment is imperative and holds much significance for Detective Dawson, because the town of Ketanu is where his mother’s family originated and is where she is last seen alive. The hunt for the murderer will expose hidden truths concerning his mother, divulge the powerful impact of his role as a detective, and address several adverse cultural practices within the village.

Author Kwei Quartey earns a nod of admiration for his literary performance in Wife of the Gods. Quartey eloquently constructed a tale that exhibited authentic Ghanaian culture. Whether by describing various foods, languages, or customs, Quartey seemed to effortlessly familiarize the reader to numerous traditions. I found myself salivating as he described the preparation of plantains, garri (also known as tapioca) and fufu (pounded cassava and plantains). I was also keenly aware of myself becoming greatly appalled by the treatment of women living as Trokosi or “wife of the gods“, a practice where young virgin girls are offered as payment to a man for a misdeed done by a family member. Disturbingly, these girls usually serve against their will as slaves to the priests or elders of a traditional shrine.

Written with impeccable skill, Wife of the Gods is a superb book, guaranteed to intrigue and appease one‘s desire for a good read. I look forward to reading the next book in the Darko Dawson series, Children of the Street.
5 s Phyllis | Mocha Drop391 2

Kwei Quartay's debut is an entertaining debut that not only focuses on Darko Dawson, the family man and the detective, but immerses the reader in Ghanaian culture and traditions, and introduces a cast of lively characters. The novel opens with the murder of a young AIDS prevention worker in the same remote region Darko's mother disappeared 25 years earlier while visiting her sister. He is assigned to support the local police because he speaks Ewe and dives into the case with a practiced, methodical approach despite objections from the local officials who suspect a young admirer of the victim (and town troublemaker) as the culprit. Darko initially treads carefully as he navigates between modern and traditional worlds; reverence for the tribal priests and practice of trokosi challenges his "progressive" thinking where women are viewed and treated equally to men and his non-belief in witchcraft and sorcery.

Darko is an exceptionally able character in that he is not the "perfect" detective; his love of marijuana mars his innocence along with repressed feelings of guilt and loss surrounding his brother's life-altering, childhood accident and his mother's unsolved disappearance. He also has a strained relationship with his father and mother-in-law, for good reasons; but loves his wife and son unconditionally. He is unbelievably human; he makes mistakes along the way, falls to anger which clouds his judgment, and at times, he prematurely jumps to the wrong conclusions at a cost. The other characters via their actions, environmental settings/way of life, and mindset provide the reader with a view into Ghanaian culture, sociology, social services (health care system, law enforcement, etc), which for me, was very enlightening.

The writing style works with the story -- it is simplistic, somewhat imperfect, but yet effective -- just Dawson. I think most readers can and will figure out "whodunit" long before it is revealed, but it will not detract from the story. I am happy to see the author is planning another novel as I would definitely love to read it. 5 s Maria Klondike107 10

3 stars for competency, 4 stars for anyone interested in reading a crimmy set in Ghana.

That’s why I picked it up, by the way. One of my new young friends is from Ghana, so I’ve decided to do some reading to better understand what cultural shocks she might be having, this being the first time she’s been in the US.

Was this book useful for that? Yes, in that I’d figured her habit of saying “please” when not asking for something but rather to show respect was cultural, and now I know it is. I also know now that Ghana has Christian and Islamic faith traditions, but also that magic is quite strong too. At least, 20 years ago it did. Eh.

What went well: Darko’s cool. Struggling with his own stuff, love to see it. The mystery itself was competently handled. They did have me going for a bit there. The wife of the gods tradition was… well, the western perspective says it’s girls being enslaved for the sins of their family members. Within Ghana, it is legal though controversial.

Nothing went wrong. But I can’t say I strongly recommend it. It’s a decent read.




Spoilers










I did cry at the end when Darko arrested his aunt for killing his mom. :’( I knew it was coming but still4 s Thao126 36

This is just not for me. It makes me extremely uncomfortable reading it, in more ways than one. But it’s not my place to critique the representation and framing of the book, though I too echoed the given my a few Ghanaian critics I have come upon that felt as though the novel presented a version of Ghana that is filtered through a fetishistic lense, that of a tourist passing through and fascinated/horrified by all of its less savory customs. There is also something about the way the abuse of power (especially coming from authority figures police) is depicted and handled with at most of flick on the risk (even if some of it was directed toward trash people who deserve it) that makes my my stomach rolls. This plus the casual misogyny to the way some women were depicted — certain details unnecessarily added that have no relevance to the story itself, the attitude toward modern Ghanaian women (thinly veiled through the pov of “backward traditional men” but not at all corrected or rebuked by the narrative), the implications that only certain kinds of women (modern, independent, well-educated, not superstitious, but not vain — “relaxed, bleached hairs and skimpy clothes”) are acceptable, the unnecessary piling on of violence toward female bodies as the only mean to move the plot forward, and the way the troiskis storyline was handled despite it being at most a tangential thread to what end up being the real murder plot — ended up making this just not an enjoyable reading experience for me.

Moreover, the way the mystery wrapped up, the revelation of who the true killer is and the motive — plus how it tied back to Dawson’s mother — actually had me starring at the screen for a min after it in in disbelief at how this turns out. It was just such a stupid twist that was not built in a way that was at all believable. It felt it came completely out of the blue halfway through the book to negate the other plausible scenarios that the audience would have guested in advance, and the motive that drove the murder plot is utterly baffling to me and implausible — even outright stupid — to me as the reader (but maybe that’s just me as a queer person being incapable of grasping the extent straight people are willing to go for their crime of passion). Such ending and the way the story fails to build to it in any meaningful way (such that any person following along with no associations with the area would too be able to solve the mystery without access to “special knowledge” derived through Dawson’s history with the place) makes it hard for me to buy into the story.4 s LJ3,159 308

First Sentence: The forest was black and Darko was afraid to enter.

DI Darko Dawson is ordered to investigate the murder of a young woman in Kentau, the town from which his mother disappeared many years before. Fighting an incompetent local policeman, superstition and a local priest to whom young women are given as trokosi or wives of the gods, Dawson sets about trying to solve both mysteries and prevent an innocent man from being hanged.

I very much enjoyed this book. On one hand, it is look and education into life in Ghana, which was fascinating; on the other hand it’s a good, solid mystery.

Quartey creates a very strong sense of place whether it be in the town or the small village. We see the customs, even down to the manner of salutations, and superstition, as well as the contrast between lives in the two environments.

Dawson is well-crafted character. He comes from a family history that is less than ideal, smokes marijuana, although it is illegal, a critically ill son and a difficult relationship with his mother-in-law. Although it wasn’t focused upon, I did wonder whether Dawson has a form of synesthesia from there being a couple mentions of his being able to feel voices.

I appreciated the contrast between Dawson, who uses standard investigative techniques, and Fiti who believe in superstition and forcing a confession to prove his belief. However, I also appreciated there being repercussions for Dawson’s actions, which is unusual.

The story is well plotted and I certainly did not figure out the killer prior to it being revealed. It is wonderful to see more new authors appearing from other countries. I look forward to reading Mr. Quartey’s next book.

WIFE OF THE GODS (Pol Proc- DI Darko Dawson-Ghana, Africa-Cont) – VG
Quartey, Kwei – 1st book
Random House Trade Paperback, ©2009, Amer Trade Paperback – ISBN: 9780812979367
africa contemporary_post_1945 male_author ...more4 s Anetq1,137 57

Crime Fiction in Ghana - from the Modern city of Accra to the bush town of his mother's family, Darko is hunting the murderer of AIDS-activist and doctor-to-be Grace.
It is an interesting setup and has the local spice of our detective and the murder victim (and the author quite clearly) exposing how blaming women for being witches is the easiest way to control them, and appeasing the gods for a (perceived) family wrongdoing or plain bad luck, can all be cured by marrying off a teenager to the village high priest, who then keeps (and rapes) her with the rest of his wifes, as he pleases for the rest of his life. Oh yeah and (male) 'healers' can cure heart problems and AIDS if you pay them enough.
While there are a lot of interesting stories to be told from all this, and a lot of women's rights to be had - it is not a very captivating novel. The baddies are just too bad, the police too corrupt, the detective too troubled etc. too many crime fiction clichés rolled into one story to my taste.

The sexism is grating - unfortunately not just from the baddies in the story, who we are very obviously meant to hate, but in the narrative as well: Why on earth do we have to get a rating of attractiveness and a physical description, including the size and shape of their breasts of almost every women who appears in this book?? (see my Kindle highlights for examples)
(I shan't be reading more from this series...)
crime_fiction reading_africa4 s Patricia412 87

Book #1 set in Ghana featuring D.I. Darko Dawson. D.I. Dawson is asked to help investigate the murder of Gladys Mensah, a promising medical student working in AIDS education in the bush villages. Dawson is asked to go to the village of Ketanu, his home village for his mother who disappeared from there while visiting family. Darko has never gone back since her disappearance so he has more to deal with than just a murder investigation.

A good beginning to a series new to me.2016 amazon-recommends4 s Irene1,747 101

This is a fairly traditional detective novel in the style of Agatha Christi. The case is solved by observation and witness interviews, not by the use of any police forensics. The characterization and the prose are rather clichéd. It was a quick read that did not require too much concentration. But, the setting is what hooked me and has me considering more books in this series. I can’t think of another book I have read that is set in Ghana with the insider eye of an author who is a native.4 s Byron Washington730 4

Excellent!!
Autor del comentario:
=================================