Wife of the Gods
A Darko
Dawson Mystery
Kwei
Quartey
Random House (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-4000-6759-6 (1400067596)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4000-6759-6 (9781400067596)
Publication Date: July 2009
List Price: $24.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): In a shady grove outside the small town of Ketanu, a
young woman—a promising med student—has been found dead
under suspicious circumstances. Eager to close the case, the local
police have arrested a poor, enamored teenage boy and charged him with
murder. Needless to say, they are less than thrilled when an outside
force arrives from the big city to lead an inquiry into the baffling
case.
Detective Inspector Darko Dawson, fluent in Ketanu’s indigenous
language, is the right man for the job, but he hates the idea of
leaving his loving wife and young son, a plucky kid with a defective
heart. Pressured by his cantankerous boss, Dawson agrees to travel to
Ketanu, sort through the evidence, and tie up the loose ends as quickly
and as efficiently as possible. But for Dawson, this sleepy corner of
Ghana is rife with emotional land mines: an estranged relationship with
the family he left behind twenty-five years earlier and the painful
memory of his own mother’s sudden, inexplicable disappearance.
Dawson is armed with remarkable insight and a healthy dose of
skepticism, but these gifts, sometimes overshadowed by his mercurial
temper, may not be enough to solve this haunting mystery. In Ketanu, he
finds that his cosmopolitan sensibilities clash with age-old customs,
including a disturbing practice in which teenage girls are offered by
their families to fetish priests as trokosi, or Wives of the Gods.
Review: Kwei
Quartey's compelling debut mystery, Wife
of the Gods, introduces Ghanian Detective Inspector Darko Dawson
investigating the murder of a medical student in a village some
distance from his home (and jurisdiction) in the country's capital of
Accra.
The crime is unusual and the government authorities have requested help
from the capital, whose forensic knowledge far exceeds that of the
local police force. The victim has no obvious injuries and is found
posed as if sleeping in the woods. Dawson, however, has mixed feelings
about accepting the assignment and returning to the village of Ketanu.
He has been there only once, over 25 years ago, to visit his aunt and
uncle. On a later visit, when just his mother went, she disappeared on
returning home. Whether she is alive or dead, no one knows. Still, the
case interests him and he's certain that the young man, who has been
arrested for the crime, is innocent. He's equally certain that another
popular sentiment in the village is also not true, that a purported
witch living nearby struck her down using herbal magic.
Wife of the Gods is
written with a quiet elegance, often lyrical in its narrative. Sound
actually plays an important part of the story, Dawson having a
particular affinity for distinguishing subtle variations in speech
patterns. Consider this passage from early in the book:
Darko felt the silken quality
and the musical lilt of Auntie's voice. He had always had a peculiarly
heightened sensitivity to speech. Not only did he hear it but he often
perceived it, as though physically touching it. He had on occasion told
[his brother] Cairo or Mama that he could feel "bumps" in a person's
voice, or that it was prickly or wet. They were mystified by this, but
Darko could not explain it any better than he could describe the
process of sight or smell.
The mystery itself is rather intricate, made so in part by the customs
and beliefs of the villagers. The author incorporates these cultural
references into the story in a seamless, natural manner; they are a
part of Dawson's investigation without necessarily being the cause of
it. Furthermore, their very being is not a hindrance and Dawson's
knowledge of them may help him find the answers he seeks to the young
woman's murder.
There are a number of familiar elements to the story, including the
wise mentor to Dawson. At one point he says to Darko, "You remember
what I told you about solving mysteries?", to which Dawson replies,
"That it's a matter of making a few of the connections and the rest
will fall in place." And that is really what Wife of the Gods is all about.
An outstanding effort overall to be sure, but there are a couple of
minor points that may resonate with readers. Darko Dawson is given to
occasional, violent outbursts which seem at odds to the intellectual
character that he seems most comfortable being. These scenes don't
really add much depth or interest to his character, and seem discordant
in a somewhat disturbing way. And the investigation seems to
conveniently ignore a person's cell phone, and not the throwaway kind,
that is the preferred way of communicating within the country -- not
surprising given the lack of infrastructure for wired service. Yet no
one thinks to check cell phone records to determine where people (read
suspects) might have been at any given time. Finally, the title, which
rates a special author note, is not terribly relevant to the crime or
its solution, and serves more as an introduction to a tangential
subplot. These comments, however, are at most quibbles for this truly
remarkable mystery that unfolds in a most unusual setting.
Special thanks to Random House for providing an ARC of Wife of the Gods for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Wife of the Gods? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Wife of the Gods
Random House (Hardcover), July 2009
ISBN-10: 1-4000-6759-6 (1400067596)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4000-6759-6 (9781400067596)
Omnimystery keywords for Wife of the Gods ...
Location(s) referenced: Accra, Ghana.
