Softcover

ISBN 10: 0091753392 ISBN 13: 9780091753399

Publisher: Random House of Canada, Limite, 1992

Investigating an apparent open-and-shut case on Kanpur campus at Bombay University, where students were able to purchase exam scores and degrees, Inspector Ghote encounters a bigger web of deceit than he anticipated. 15,000 first printing. National ad/promo.

From AudioFile:

Sam Dastor is not the only narrator who can perfectly reproduce the voice and personality of Inspector Ghote, Bombay Crime Branch. In this superb narration Garard Green brings to life, not only Ghote, but all the colorful denizens of a seedy Bombay college: protesting students, inept administrators and "ivory-tower wallahs." Ghote is there to investigate the theft of examination papers and an attempted murder. Unlike mysteries with complicated plots which can be difficult to follow, especially while commuting, this simple story with its leisurely narration offers pure, undemanding pleasure. J.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Kirkus Reviews:

In the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation's concise, polished, and utterly unhelpful report on a cheating scandal at Bombay's Oceanic College, Inspector Ghote is sent to ascertain how Bala Chambhar, the student now near death after an overdose of sleeping pills, could have purloined an exam paper from Principal Bembalkar's locked office. It doesn't take long for Ghote to figure out that this locked room was rather porous after all, but by that time he's realized that Chambhar, though he was selling copies of the exam all over Bombay, can't have been the person who took it in the first place; the thief (and poisoner) must have been somebody who wanted to discredit the Principalji. One of his aspiring successors, perhaps: the potbellied Dean, the unruffled Head of English, the self-styled Professor of Astrology? Or an aggrieved lecturer in English looking for revenge after getting tarred by disaffected students? Or one of the revolting students themselves? Giving his usual sublimely convincing imitation of a ``totally stupid police officer,'' Ghote stumbles through a maze of confrontations with student protesters, amateur kidnappers, and the pettiest of petty bureaucrats before a hint from his wife sets him on the path to Chambhar's would-be killer. Something of a holiday from the intensity of Ghote's last appearance (The Iciest Sin, 1990) and Keating's most recent novel (The Rich Detective, 1993)--a return to the foolishly endearing manner that masked the sly social commentary of Ghote's earliest adventures. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.