Inspector Ghote Trusts the Heart

Inspector Ghote #8

by H.R.F. Keating

Ganesh Ghote, an inspector with the Bombay Police Department, investigates the kidnapping of a poor child who was mistaken for the son of a wealthy tycoon.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

201 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 1972

About the author

Henry Reymond Fitzwalter Keating was an English writer of crime fiction most notable for his series of novels featuring Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID.

H. R. F. KEATING was well versed in the worlds of crime, fiction and nonfiction. He was the crime books reviewer for The Times for fifteen years, as well as serving as the chairman of the Crime Writers Association and the Society of Authors. He won the CWA Gold Dagger Award twice, and in 1996 was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for outstanding service to crime fiction.

Series:
. Inspector Ghote
. Harriet Martens

Series contributed to:
. Malice Domestic
. Perfectly Criminal

Reviews

[Les Wilson]

Cannot give it a rating as I had to stop reading. I cannot enjoy a book about child abuse, killings, or any other ill treatment of children.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the years I must have read at least six Inspector Ghote books before finding this one, and am very fond of all of them. Ghote is both a hero and an anti-hero for his uprightness and work ethic, but never fights back to the career injustices done him. He's a little hard to believe in, so patient, extremely ethical, so proud of being on the Bombay (was then ) C.I.D. that he will endure any humiliation or privation to carry on. In all the books he typically gets chosen by some higher-up for a delicate, awkward task, not because he has earned lots of medals and promotions or been featured in any newspapers . Rather he is singled out for some personal attribute. Honest superiors value his integrity. Venal ones know he will let them take the credit for his success without complaining. Is he a Hindu nebbish for letting himself be bullied by the brass or is he a humble, intelligent, caring public servant? I see the latter and love him for it.

If you haven't read any of this series, I would recommend Bats Fly Up for Inspector Ghote to start. The love interest with his wife Protima is more developed in Bats than in this volume.

This review did not even mention until now that although Inspector Ghote deals with serious crimes in a serious way, the stories all have light touches or actual theatre of the absurd. Some blurbs call him a "comic detective," but he's not a bumbler like Inspector Clouzot

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only son of a rich manufacturer is kidnapped. But they kidnapped the wrong child. While playing together the rich kid changed clothes with the poor tailors child. The kidnappers throw the real rich kid out of the car and keep the poor kid. They demand a ransom of 20 lakh (2 million rupees, about $150 million today) even though they know they have the wrong child.

Inspector Ghote is tasked with staying with the family and helping them to deal with the kidnappers. The family is friends with the Commissioner of Bombay Police which complicates dealing with the kidnappers. Ghote has to deal with a Superintendent who has been put in charge of the investigation and does everything by the book, with all the problems that intends.

Once again, Ghote, working from little clues is able to solve the problem and save the child.

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite Inspector Ghote yet. Ghote and the tycoon's desire to save the tailor's son is at the heart of the story. It is that which gives this story full meaning and interest.

I have fallen into the rhythm of the stories - the fact that Ghote will face insufferable people, insuperable situations, and extreme frustration. Yet, he always stubbornly sticks with his task and gets the criminal in the end. These mysteries are not usually difficult to solve but that's beside the point. As with my experience of reading the Brother Cadfael mysteries, it is the environment, people, and Ghote himself who are the attractions. So far, I'm loving this series.

As always, the audio makes this story soar.

[Roger Bosco]

Very entertaining books by Keating. Just read "The Iceiest Sin". Ghote often gets into "scrapes" or conundrums. He is often faced with personal ethical and moral problems related to his job and his family. However, he is very dedicated to do his duty as an inspector, and he has a good heart. Lots of twists and turns in the stories as Ghote struggles to prevail in often hopeless situations.

Very fun reading and not the usual stuff.

[Andy Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable light read. Nice setting in Bombay makes for some pleasant changes of voices from the average Golden Age whodunnit. Ghote is a very pleasant chap and there is a fair amount of time in this one of moral quandries involved in handling a kidnap case and privilege. The ending was a somewhat odd anticlimax.

[Nona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another interesting story from H.R.F. KEATING.
It is the usual round about story with far too much dialogue, but there is always something there that keeps you wanting to know the ending.
Poor Inspector Ghote is a long standing sufferer and nothing changes in this novel.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspector Ghote is asked by the Police Commissioner himself to investigate a kidnapping. When he arrives, the finds that it is a wealthy industrialist who is involved. However, the kidnappers did not take the businessman's son, but rather the son of his tailor, who was playing with the other boy at the time. Early in the book, the kidnappers realize their mistake, but they still demand an enormous sum for the release of the little boy.

Mr. Desai, the industrialist, is torn between wanting to help and wanting to placate his young wife, who is furious at the idea of him paying any money for someone who is so unimportant. Superintendent Karandikar wants to bring in lots of police officers and capture the criminals. Only Inspector Ghote manages to stay focused on the real victim, the missing little boy, only a few years younger than his own son. It is a race against time for Ghote to deliver a ransom, follow the clues, and find the boy.

I really enjoy Keating's Inspector Ghote books. In some ways, Ghote reminds me of Inspector Alleyn. He is a very competent police officer, but he is also a complex human being with a good heart. These books are out of print, sadly, but they are well written and worth looking for.

[Jrobertus · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is set in Bombay, contemporary Mumbai, in the 1970's. In this case thugs have tried to kidnap the child of a wealthy industrialist, but have inadvertently grabbed the child of the tailor brought in to redo the drapes. There are a lot of conflicting interests here. Will the wealthy man pay for the son of a low caste person? He is basically sympathetic to the idea is it is not TOO much money. His wife is against it at all. The police superintendent doesn't want to deal with kidnappers, fearing reward will only fuel more snatches. Ghote understands this argument, but can't abandon this pathetic child and his parents. This is more an investigation of social mores than a thriller, but I enjoyed it well enough. It would be more interesting to discuss with a group than it was to read.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

From "I'm Reading":
To me, this one read more like a really long short story (novella?? forget the defs) rather than a novel, but I enjoyed it enormously nonetheless. The entire story takes place over a couple of days and is a crime fiction take on the ol' rich boy/poor boy dichotomy--on a couple of levels. The victim of the vicious kidnapping is the young son of a poor tailor, who had switched clothes with his playmate, the son of a very wealthy businessman. That whodunit plot plays out as our humble and dogged Inspector Ghote, of relatively low rank in the Bombay CID of the 1970s, struggles to save the child despite the sometimes confounding orders and wishes of the lofty Commissioner and his pet DSI. (Not that they are really wrong!) Well done, and recommended!

[Martine Peacock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alexander McCall-Smith (whom I want for a friend!) rates Inspector Ghote as one of the top fictional detectives. Sadly I didn't get enough sense of Ghote as a character to come to adore him (and to want to read the rest in the series). In fact, I was somewhat disappointed in Ghote when he went home at lunchtime one day and picked an argument with his wife for no real reason. I wanted my Ghote to be wiser than that!

Keating wrote eight or nine of the Inspector Ghote novels before ever visiting India. I think he's captured brilliantly the formal and sometimes stilted English Indians use, and the rigidity and heartlessness of the social hierarchy.

[Jobiska (Cindy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting...I am glad I read this, and liked Inspector Ghote, but frankly I felt you didn't see enough of him and I'm not sure I liked the other characters enough to try the rest of the series.

[Bionic Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspector Ghote #8.

[Петр · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic!