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Bribery, Corruption Also (Inspector Ghote Mystery)

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Inspector Ghote loves doing police work in his beloved Bombay. Still, when his wife Protima inherits a luxurious home in Calcutta, the pair discusses his retirement and their moving away from Bombay. However, upon seeing the home, Protima's childhood memories of that house quickly shatter as the home is in utter disrepair and squatters occupy it.

Their attorney suggests they sell the pink elephant as quickly as they can to get it off their hands. To Ghote and Protima's shock, a buyer surfaces almost immediately. Perhaps, it is his work that makes Ghote immediately suspicious of the sudden appearance of a buyer. He begins to investigate, only to place himself and Protima in danger by a conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of the local government.

The latest Inspector Ghote mystery is an entertaining tale that seems too simple for one of the genre's great police officers. The story line concentrates on layer after layer of bribery and corruption that Ghote with his spouse uncovers, sort of like peeling an artichoke. The tale is enjoyable because of the rich insight into Calcutta, but the prime plot never quite hovers more than a few feet off the ground. Still, award winning author H.R.J. Keating will please fans of the series with the latest entry that places Protina more in the spotlight than usual.

Harriet Klausner

For about forty years, English writer and critic H R F Keating has been mining the rich vein of gentle humor and rickety policing that the rest of the world associates with the culture of Bombay and other parts of India. His police officer is Inspector Ghote. At the time he initiated his series of 21 Inspector Ghote books, Keating had never set foot in India. I am not sure whether he has since explored the real India he has so well evoked in his fiction.

Bribery, Corruption Also dates from Keatings early seventies. Inspector Ghote, once pedaling a bicycle to investigate crime, is now being driven around Calcutta searching for a house his wife has inherited. If time and action move slowly in his other Ghote books, they amble at an even slower pace here. Expect leisurely narrative rather than cliffhangers on every page. Expect only one minor murder rather than serial killings. And expect Anglo-Indian dialogue such as this: We are knowing you now. No need for more concealings.

Since other useful reviewers have outlined the books plot, I have instead tried to convey the mellow flavor and gentle tempo of a reading experience that has provided me with many hours of enjoyment.

Bribery, Corruption Also is my least favorite of the novels in the distinguished series concerning the Bombay police detective, Inspector Ghote. Unless you feel compelled to read every book in the series, you can skip this one.

The book opens as Inspector Ghote and his wife, Protima, are flying to Calcutta. Protima has unexpectedly inherited an estate from a distant relative. She remembers the house and land fondly from her youth, and is determined to move to Calcutta so that the Ghotes can retire there on her inheritance. Having come from Calcutta originally, she rhapsodizes about the many wonders of Calcutta. Everything is better or bigger there than anywhere else.

This sets up a nice tension, because Inspector Ghote loves his native Bombay and his police work there. He has no interest in moving to Calcutta, but doesn't want to spoil his wife's joy.

Upon arrival, they decide to visit the house on their own before the appointed trip planned with the estate's lawyer. What they find is a rundown mess filled with immigrant squatters. While there, they meet the next-door neighbor who bewails the fact that Protima's relative had been unwilling to sell while the property still had some value.

But no matter! Protima decides that she will oust the squatters, repair the house, and move in. When the lawyer arrives, he tries to talk her out of that . . . and mentions that he has a buyer for the property. But why would anyone want to buy it? During the conversation, the lawyer contradicts what the neighbor has said about Protima's relative not wanting to sell. That puts Inspector Ghote on his guard. Soon he finds more contradictions, especially when the lawyer tries to avoid advancing any money from the estate to Protima.

Deeply annoyed that someone may be trying to hoodwink his wife, Inspector Ghote finds himself working at cross-purposes to his own desire to return to Bombay as he unravels the mystery.

With such a fine set-up, you would expect there to be a wonderful mystery. Actually, the mystery isn't very mysterious. The detection is also pretty simple. That would be all right, but the story development is mostly about endless visits to Calcutta tourist spots, descriptions of the superiority of Calcutta over all other cities, and endless attempts by those in Calcutta to obtain bribes.

Mr. Keating's purpose in the book seems to be to write a morality tale about the dangers that even petty bribery can bring. Everyone in the book finds it more practical to pay bribes from time to time to get some short-term advantage than to play by the rules. When you do that, you become tarred by corruption and inevitably are harmed.

But the book doesn't quite work. Instead, the story's apparent lesson seems to be that if Inspector Ghote had avoided investigating, all would have been much better. That seems to suggest that sticking your head in the sand is the best policy when you spot something fishy, even if you are a police official.

The book also portrays the potential for pervasive corruption on a scale that cannot be stopped. That just wasn't credible to me, even though I know little about modern India.

I listened to the audio tapes of this book, which are read by the author, Mr. H.R.F. Keating. I enjoyed the sound of his voice in creating the accents of the characters. I will remember those accents with pleasure when I reread books in the series.

If you decide to read this book, think about where you may be succumbing to the temptation to cut moral boundaries in search of a momentary advantage. Do you think it's wise to continue?

Inspector Ganesh Ghote of the Bombay Police Headquarters and his Bengali wife, Protima, are traveling to Calcutta, where Mrs. Ghote was born. Mrs. Ghote is about to claim her inheritance, a large house that was bequeathed to her by a "cousin-uncle." While their taxi driver attempts to navigate the crowded streets of the city, Inspector Ghote is overwhelmed by the noise and revelry of a religious festival in progress. He is instantly put off by the "utter lack of restraint" of the populace. Although he is on temporary leave from his job, Ghote worries that his enthusiastic wife will urge him to retire so that they can live in Calcutta permanently. She claims that Calcutta is a more civilized place than Bombay, with less crime and corruption.

When Protima and Ghote arrive at the residence they are planning to occupy, they are stunned. It is a "battered, eaten away ruin," "a sadly dilapidated mansion," inhabited by squatters. Nor are they reassured by the lawyer who summoned them, Mr. A. K. Dutt-Dastar. He wears wrap-around sunglasses and is too slick by half. He urges Protima to sell her property and return with the money to Bombay. However, she has her heart set on reliving the happy days of her youth in her dream home. What follows is nothing short of a nightmare for the naïve couple. They are about to learn some unpleasant lessons about how business is conducted in this harsh place.

To their woe, the Ghotes learn that Calcutta is no better than Bombay when it comes to graft and criminal behavior. As a trained detective, Ghote dutifully tries to uncover the details of what appears to be a plot to steal Protima's inheritance. Ghote, a good and honest man, valiantly tries to stand up for his wife. However, he may be unequal to the powerful forces arrayed against him. "Bribery, Corruption Also" is a colorful and atmospheric study of a city where dishonesty is a way of life. When money changes hands, one character states, "the work gets done. The world continues." He continues, "Yes, Inspector, corruption is necessary."

Keating is a skillful descriptive writer who brings to life a city of contrasts--new vs. old, wealth vs. horrifying squalor. This is not a feel-good story, although it is, for the most part, free of violence. It is a cynical look at how newspapers, governments, police departments, and other organizations, whose mission ostensibly is to serve the public, instead serve themselves. Although the book is at times talky and repetitious, the author makes us care about Ganesh and Protima's quest. Each character is vividly portrayed and Keating makes no effort to soften a message that may be as relevant today as it has ever been: When people care only about themselves, civilization is headed for decay.