Review by Booklist Review
The first in a projected series focusing on the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency of Mumbai starts with a longtime cop's forced retirement. Inspector Ashwin Chopra has served in the Mumbai Police for 34 years, but his recent heart attack convinced his superiors (but not Chopra himself) that he was too fragile to keep solving crimes in a complicated city. On the day of his retirement, Chopra inherits an eight-month-old, smallish elephant from an uncle. The elephant is a completely bewildering and disruptive presence in the apartment compound where Chopra and his wife live. On the same day, a woman whose son has drowned seeks Inspector Chopra's help, but his police career ends at 3 p.m. Chopra fights the clock in a lot of ways in this thought-provoking mystery, what with trying to care for a nonthriving elephant, solving the case of the drowned boy, and trying to come to terms with retirement. The novel takes a while to find its feet (the tone keeps changing from light to despairing), but eventually it strides confidently. A promising debut to a series that, one presumes, will feature Chopra finding ways to stay in the game.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A faulty heart has forced the early retirement of Mumbai's Insp. Ashwin Chopra, the hero of Khan's winning debut, but the discovery of a young man drowned in a puddle of water upsets the policeman's last day on the job. Neither Chopra's superior nor successor has any interest in investigating, though an autopsy later reveals that the victim had alcohol and barbiturates in his blood. Retired or not, Chopra decides he has to get to the bottom of the man's suspicious death. Meanwhile, Chopra has inherited a baby elephant, soon named Ganesh, from his favorite uncle. Initially listless, Ganesh perks up once he begins to accompany Chopra around the city in what becomes a murder inquiry. Khan's affection for Mumbai and its residents adds to the novel's charm, though one hopes he'll be more careful with the details in the sequel (e.g., women would never wear lotus blossoms in their hair; they're too heavy). (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
