Detective Inspector Darko Dawson has been sent out to the countryside of Ghana to investigate the murder of a young woman. When he arrives, he must deal with the local healer, the rural police, and the local fetish priest, as well as reconnect with his extended family he hasn't seen since his mother's disappearance years earlier.

There are plenty of murder suspects, and the more Dawson looks, the more complications he finds. And his own temper isn't doing him any good either.

I've seen the book description, which compares this to the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith. Perhaps. But I think that a better comparison would be to Inspector Morse. This is a darker book. Don't let the lush Ghanaian setting fool you - this is a brooding, imperfect police detective dealing with some morally complicated issues.

I really enjoyed the chance to read this book. There were some format issues I spotting that proofreading ought to take care of. But the story, the characters, the setting - all make this a great book to read. I hope this is just the first in a good solid series.

Terrific police procedural, the West Africa setting adding to its charm. We get a window into Ghana, its people and a glimpse of Ghanaian culture, all wrapped up in a mystery that will have you guessing right until the end.

Police procedural introducing Darko Dawson, a detective inspector from Accra who is sent to the village of Ketanu to investigate a murder. The story weaves Ghanan customs, the disappearance of Dawson's mother when he was a child and the story of a young woman who is studying to be a doctor and volunteering as an AIDS worker. Wife of the Gods references the young women who are sent to live with fetish priests. Gladys Mensa, the AIDS worker, interacts with Togbe Adzima, the fetish priest in Ketanu, encouraging him to change his ways. The wives of the fetish priest was a bit of a red herring for me -

Spoiler

as I was convinced the murderer of Gladys Mensa came from that household.

Dawson has to navigate between a village he visited as a boy, his current life in Accra, the rough techniques of the local police captain, the tribal customs in Ketanu, his mother-in-law attempting an herbal remedy for Darko's son as well as Darko's personal darkness.
He is a man with flaws - but he got the job done.

A good, old-fashioned detective murder mystery set in Ghana. The setting is so intriguing and makes for additional obstacles for our detective.

Sometimes a book’s setting can be just as important to me as the plot or characters. This is one of those books. The culture, history, and landscape of Ghana are integral to the storyline. Detective Inspector Darko Dawson is from his station in Accra, the capital, to a small village to investigate the death of a female medical student.

Darko is torn between his modern sensiblities and the age-old customs that still persist, like the trokosi, girls who are given as wives to the local priest in exchange for good fortune for their families. He steps on a lot of feet during the book, between his anger at the priest, his disagreement with the local law officer and his reluctance to rely on healers rather than doctors and hospitals. Darko has his flaws, most noticeably his anger issues, but he truly does want justice to be done. He doesn’t go along with the easy solution, although it may have been more comfortable for him if he had. He dedicates himself to finding the answers. And the mystery is good. The clues were there, I’m just not very good at seeing them.

For me though, the charm of the book lies in Ghana itself, the clash between modern and traditional cultures, the beauty of the land, the hard work involved in daily life. I look forward to the next in the series.

This book reminded me why I love all books. I had forgotten my joy of mysteries in my focus on personal preferences. As for the book I loved it and it was just different enough that I had to work at predicting what would come. Still by the end I was wishing for just a few more pages.

I had never heard of this book or this writer when my local Mystery Club chose it for this month's reading. I dutifully procured a copy and read it. I think it is unlikely I would have picked it up without that incentive.

It was this writer's first novel. It is set in his native Ghana (he now lives in the United States) and it exudes a strong sense of place. He manages to explore some of Ghanaian traditional values and ideas as they clash with more modern attitudes.

The core of the story is the murder of a young and beautiful medical student who is working in an AIDS education program in the country. She is found strangled near a footpath in the bush where she was contacting people. A member of the health agency that she was working for contacts the central government and requests that a CID detective from the capital take over the investigation because he is afraid the local police are not up to the task. The man who is chosen for the job is D.I. Darko Dawson.

Dawson has familial ties to the part of the country where the murder took place and he speaks the local language, so he seems to be the man for the job. In order to investigate the murder, Dawson has to leave his wife and his son who has a congenital heart problem. He is reluctant to leave his family but must do his duty.

During the investigation, he makes some wrong moves, at least as judged by local society. It turns out that he has a barely controlled rage problem and this has gotten him into trouble before.

Quartey plays fair in laying out the clues along the trail of his story, with the result that I actually solved the mystery long before his detective, but I read all the way to the end. There are some interesting characters here and the writer may develop them further in his next novel. This first effort was okay. I didn't feel that I was wasting my time reading it, but it is not something that I can really highly recommend.