"Wife of the Gods" is a great first novel for Kwei Quartey. Set in rural Ghana, it tells the story of Darko Dawson, a police inspector, who is asked to revisit his childhood village to solve the murder of a young and ambituous woman. Threaded throughout the tale are the superstitions, folklore, traditions, and social conditions of the villagers which impede Darko's progress. While investigating this case, Darko is also able to discover the circumstances and set to rest the disappearance of his own mother. The characters to this story are magnificently created and the rural backdrop is exquisite. I particularly love Darko's character: his anger and sadness, his love and his joy. This is a wonderful murder/mystery that'll keep you guessing right up until the end. Definitely a recommended read.

That was tough.  Oh, a well done mystery, well written, plotted, situated.  It just hit me with a lot of the points where I say "oh, that's not fair!" like a petulant child.  Luckily it's pretty well-resolved too. 

An interesting setting, a smart, multi-dimensional character leading this book, I want to see more Darko Dawson! Creative story. I want to know about more about Ghana and Togo. Are there more?

Solid mystery with a compelling protagonist. The Ghanaian setting added nice atmosphere and an added conflict of tradition versus progress (or tradition versus western intervention, depending on your p.o.v.) I’ll definitely continue with this series.

Crime Fiction in Ghana - from the Modern city of Accra to the bush town of his mother's family, Darko is hunting the murderer of AIDS-activist and doctor-to-be Grace.
It is an interesting setup and has the local spice of our detective and the murder victim (and the author quite clearly) exposing how blaming women for being witches is the easiest way to control them, and appeasing the gods for a (perceived) family wrongdoing or plain bad luck, can all be cured by marrying off a teenager to the village high priest, who then keeps (and rapes) her with the rest of his wifes, as he pleases for the rest of his life. Oh yeah and (male) 'healers' can cure heart problems and AIDS if you pay them enough.
While there are a lot of interesting stories to be told from all this, and a lot of women's rights to be had - it is not a very captivating novel. The baddies are just too bad, the police too corrupt, the detective too troubled etc. too many crime fiction clichés rolled into one story to my taste.

The sexism is grating - unfortunately not just from the baddies in the story, who we are very obviously meant to hate, but in the narrative as well: Why on earth do we have to get a rating of attractiveness and a physical description, including the size and shape of their breasts of almost every women who appears in this book?? (see my Kindle highlights for examples)
(I shan't be reading more from this series...)

Full review at: http://hollybooknotes.blogspot.com/2009/08/mystery-monday.html

There were interesting aspects of the culture of Ghana throughout the book, but the characters were none of them particularly gripping.

2.5=

1. A Ghanaian mystery! Yay!!
2. An extremely slow read.
3. Way too much fluff, but it was kinda interesting.
4. Predictable...except for that part. Yeah, didn't see that coming.
5. Darko Dawson is so blah, not appealing in anyway.