Monday, Aug 3, 2009

Book Review: Wife of The Gods By Kwei Quartey

Author:          Kwei Quartey

Publisher:       Random House

ISBN #:          978-1-4000-6759-6

Type:             Fiction:Mystery

Pages:           336 Hardback

Published:      July 14, 2009

Website:         http://kweiquartey.com

Purchase:      $16.32 (HERE) 

The Story

A mysterious murder of a model citizen takes place in Ghana.  A small community’s beloved young medical student, Gladys, dies under questionable circumstances.  Upon the results of her autopsy, it is evident that her death is attributable to homicide.  Although local authorities are on the case, an additional investigator is brought in from Accra (the nearby large municipality).  This investigator is Detective Inspector Darko Dawson.  Coincidentally, he had spent considerable time in this small community as a child as he has family who resides there.  In addition to this family, his mother mysteriously died en route to home on her way back from visiting her sister in this town of Ketanu.

Darko is married with a boy who was born with a congenital heart defect, a hole in his heart in need of repair.  To me, this mirrors the hole left in Darko’s heart upon the unexplained death of his mother.  As Darko and his wife, Christine, work to heal their son, he is called out to Ketanu to work on this case. 

There is much about Ketanu that Darko welcomes, yet affects him in such a sad way as it brings back so many memories for him.  Able to understand their native tongue and customs, he sets out to solve the mystery of Gladys’ unexplained death.    

The Review

I’ve never paid a doctor for healing me with a payment of two live chickens, although the thought now tempts me!   I have yet to read The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency, but I can only imagine that it must be similar in many ways to this book.  African culture has always intrigued me and I got a great dose of it in reading this who-done-it.  Expertly, Quartey includes a glossary of terms in the back of the book so that readers can follow along with some of the local dialect contained within the novel.

To begin, what I most liked about this story was its characters.  I think that Quartey did a great job bringing the protagonist to the forefront of the reader’s mind, almost reminiscent of a James Patterson mystery in which you come to be the fly on the shoulder of the detective.  In fact, many aspects of this novel reminded me of James Patterson.  There were the good vs. evil forces that were present.  In addition, the taboos and witchcraft of the ancient culture were included in this modern-day story.  Therefore, what you get out of this novel is some history, culture, spookiness, and a good old fashioned detective mystery.  All the makings of a good book.  Speaking of culture… the way that the food is described in this book made my mouth water.  I love plantains and there are plenty of them in here!

What wasn’t my “cup of tea?”  Well… in general I’m not a real mystery enthusiast.  I will read perhaps 2-3 mysteries per year.  But, that isn’t to say that this isn’t a good book.  It is a rather great read.  Unlike many mystery fanatics I know, I’m just not hooked on them. But, anybody who loves the art of a well written murder mystery and is looking for something refreshing and different will find just that in Wife Of The Gods.

The Rating

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale,” I am giving Wife Of The Gods a rating of 7.5 out of 10.  I liked the setting of a murder mystery in a land and culture that are completely foreign to me.  I enjoyed the richness of the setting nearly as much as I did the story itself.  I also appreciated the message in the book about preventing the spread of AIDS, how simple it really can be.

My heartfelt thanks to TLC Book Tours for including me in this mystery from distant shores!

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