Inspector Ghote

It is Inspector Ghote's bad luck to be landed with the case of the perfect murder at the start of his career with the Bombay Police. As if it were not enough to have to contend with the cunning and important tycoon Lala Varde, Ghote finds himself investigating a mysterious theft of a single rupee from the desk of yet another very important person, the Minister of Police Affairs and the Arts. "If people would only behave in a simple, reasonable, logical way," sighs the Inspector, as he struggles through the quagmires of incompetence and corruption to solve these curious crimes. The Perfect Murder introduced Inspector Ghote: Bombay CID's most dutiful officer and one of the greatest, most engaging creations in all detective fiction.

In the princely state of Bhopore, India, 1930, a handful of Western visitors comes to the opulent Summer Palace to meet the outrageous Maharajah and his entourage. There they meet the Maharajah's heir, the sensual Porgy, and his English chorus-girl mistress. They meet the enigmatic chief minister, and the aloof British Resident, with his dignified little nine-year-old son. And before long, they also meet sudden death. Various people in the palace become suspects, and an imperturbable district superintendent of police is called in. But who will he find guilty of the murder of the Maharajah?