Inspector Ghote Hunts the Peacock

Inspector Ghote #4

by H.R.F. Keating

Inspector Ganesh Ghote comes to London!
The Indian police inspector (pronounced Go-tay) is sent to attend an international conference on drug smuggling; and in cold, drizzling London he is faced with his first case outside India.

It is a very odd case. The girl, Ranee, niece of relatives of Ghote who live in London, has vanished—seduced, kidnapped, murdered, so her relatives allege, by the notorious pop singer Johnny Bull. Ghote is hounded by the relatives into spending his few leisure hours from the conference in trying to find Ranee—known for her brilliance as The Peacock.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, India

226 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2005

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

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading mysteries by H.R.F. Keating off and on for 30 years. In this book, Inspector Ganesh Ghote of the Bombay(now Mumbai), India police is sent to a police drugs conference in London, England by his superior, laid up with a broken hip and unable to attend himself. He gives Ghote a speech that he has prepared. Ghote is unprepared for this responsibility but goes to England and upon his arrival, finds a cousin greeting him and insisting that Ghote stay with him and find his missing niece. Ghote reluctantly agrees to do so.
Ghote does solve the mystery of the missing girl and stumbles into a drugs investigation. I did not suspect what happened to the missing niece until near the end. There is very little violence and I would classify as a cozy mystery.
I rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars(rounded up to4). This was a bookstore purchase.

[Les Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this the least of the Inspector Ghote books.

[Writerlibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspector Ghote Hunts the Peacock by H.R.F. Keating.
This is the fourth novel in the Inspector Ghote series. In this one we find Ghote arriving in London in awe of finally visiting the Metropolis he's been dreaming about for so many years. We are in 1968, when cultures clashed in London, girls in mini, drugs and hippies. Ghote has traveled to London for a Police Conference on drug smuggling. At the airport he is met with a distant cousin who is adamant that he helps find the cousin run away niece nickname the Peacock missing for the last 3 weeks. Ghote embarks on a chase of an elusive girl mixed up with the drug and music scene. Keating succeeds in showing and telling Ghote fish out of water adventure with panache and a hint of humor and social comment. Not all the bad guy are thugs. A quick but interesting read.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great. Pitch perfect dialogue, some very funny scenes, but I really cared about Inspector Ghote and loved reading about England/India in the 70s. The mini-skirt! Horrors!

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspector Ghote is in England this time, supposedly attending a police conference on the drug problem facing Europe and Asia. I say "supposedly" because he actually spends the majority of his time looking for a missing girl--the "Peacock" of the title--who is the distant relative of Inspector Ghote's wife. I really loved the depiction of the Inspector's frustration and eventual capitulation under family pressure to take time out of his short visit to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. The importance of even extended and distant family in his culture gives him no choice but to go hunting the streets of London for the girl. Inspector Ghote, an Anglophile like a lot of us. has been so excited and so looking forward to this trip, anticipating seeing all the famous sights but what he does end up seeing are council tower blocks, poor estates, slums, gangsters, greasy cafes, drug pushers and ends up staying, not in a nice English hotel, but with relatives who refuse to assimilate and give up their cultural lifestyle (so he might just be back in India). Even the presentation at the conference goes awry because of his investigation. Of course, our Inspector persists and perseveres and finds out what has happened to the girl. Sadly, he leaves England with the same feeling many of us have had--the reality of a place does not always live up to our romantic expectations.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because his Superintendent has broken his hip, Inspector Ghote finds that he is being sent to London to speak at a Conference on Drug Smuggling. When he arrives in London, the man who meets him is happy that Ghote has relatives he can stay with, because they don't have enough rooms for all of the attendees. His relatives (who are cousins of his wife) are thrilled to have him.

When he arrives at the cousins place which is upstairs from their restaurant, he finds that it is like a transplanted part of Bombay, and that his cousin is very much a complainer about the English. They immediately let him know that they expect him to find the niece of his wife who has disappeared. Because of her style of clothes, she is known as "Peacock" by all who know her.

As he works he way through a part of London he never expected to see, he has to deal with giggling girlfriends of Peacock, her rock star ex-boyfriend, a local 'hot' spot where she is known to buy drugs, and a group of brothers who run a 'protection' racket. On top of all of this, he must find a gift for his wife that says "England", and not only spend time at the conference taking notes on the speeches but also present the Superintendents speech which he has given to Ghote.

[Maya Gopalakrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The one in which our beloved inspector goes to London and solves the double mystery of his wife's cousin's niece's disappearance and the question of drugs smuggling from Bombay to London but not before being pelted down with London Hail and almost getting beaten up by London thugs. Overall Keating torments him much less than the other books. Must read for Ghote fans.

[Sara Vogt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book at my local Habitat store and was intrigued by the description & also the fact that it was printed in the 60’s.

After reading, the main thing I liked about this was the fact it was printed in the late 1960’s and the typeface was nostalgic for me.

Will not read more from this author, but the nostalgia was glorious!

[Eva B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always like Inspector Ghote, a man of honor.

[Lisa Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awfully nicely put together.

[Pream · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keating's presents Inspector Ghote as not the smartest, most confident officer, which is in sharp contrast with sleuths like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Yet their motive remains the same, i.e., the search for the utmost truth and punishment of the feloner(s). In this particular book, Ghote gets dragged into a case, finding the whereabouts of a seventeen-year-old girl (a distant relative of his wife) of Indian origin when he visited London for an official work. The book predominantly tells about this investigation and his first-hand experience of modern London. He lands in England like an eager tourist, ready to explore the mighty city that is full of pomp and glory. But his bright idea about the city soon fades away when he realises that the city is no different from his own Bombay in many ways; income inequality, illicit activities, and racism are all part of the glorious London. 

I loved the book's slow-paced narrative. Ghote's inferiority complex, his kind nature, and most of all, his dedication to the unwanted case in an unknown foreign land, make it a great read. Keating's did a great job of keeping a sense of enigma about 'hunt' until the very final chapter. The only drawback I found in this book is that it states almost nothing about how the crime was done.

Overall, I loved the story and finished it on a cold and rainy January day. I would rate it 3/5.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally I really enjoy the Inspector Ghote mysteries. The books were first published in the 1960s and are set at that time. Ghote is an inspector in the Bombay CID, and due to his abilities, he often gets the most difficult cases.

In this story, Ghote has been sent to London to an international meeting on illegal drug smuggling to present a paper by his superior, who is too ill to travel. Ghote is both pleased and scared.

On arriving in London, one of his wife's relatives begs Ghote to look into the disappearance of their niece, the "peacock" in the title. The vivacious niece has disappeared and the police believe she has run away with a secret boyfriend. Since she is a legal adult (just), there is nothing more for them to do. Ghote absolutely does not want to become involved, but he can't seem to get himself out of it without causing problems with his wife when he returns to India. However, through several nights of seemingly fruitless interviews and stakeouts, Ghote uncovers the truth and even helps the London police stop a drug smuggling ring and catch a murderer.

[Michael Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that Keating captures the oddities of foreign policeman quite well, even though (beleive it or not) he never visited India until he was well into the Inspector Ghote series. Ghote is an enduring but tough little man determined to find the truth in any of the Keating books. Well worth reading as a good diversion.

[Anand Prabhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I watched a the movie A perfect Murder based on Inspector Ghote series by Merchant Ivory productions, I have been hooked to the series. And Nasserudin Shah as Inspector Ghote can be visualized in every page.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

As part of my preparation for a month long tour of India I set about reading Keating's series...they aren't bad and have a certain empty calorie feel to them.

[Wilma Rebstock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spending a few hours with Inspector Ghote is always charming.