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This page lists novels and short story collections that feature the Indian policeman Inspector Ghote.

The Perfect Murder

H.R.F. Keating

1964

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"One crime that couldn't have happened, one that probably hasn't. Nothing's ever easy for Inspector Ghote. In the house of Lala Varde, a vast man of even vaster influence, an attack has taken place. Varde's secretary, Mr Perfect, has been struck on his invaluable business head. And try as Inspector Ghote might to remain conscientious and methodical, his investigation is beset on all sides by cunning, disdain and corruption. And then there's another urgent case to be dealt with: the impossible theft of a single rupee."

Inspector Ghote’s Good Crusade

H.R.F. Keating

1966

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"This was no ordinary Bombay murder, for the arsenic victim was Frank Masters, American millionaire and philanthropist. The case was bound to attract much public attention. But, hounded by his superiors, Inspector Ghote finds that his demands for evidence and facts are met with nothing but confusing lies and bewildering evasions."

Inspector Ghote Caught in Meshes

H.R.F. Keating

1967

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"An American visitor to India is killed on the road from Bombay to Poona. Called in to investigate the murder, Inspector Ghote soon makes the acquaintance of the victim's brother, Professor Gregory Strongbow. But the professor is both stubborn and evasive, refusing to tell Ghote what he knows about the events leading up to Hector's death. Soon Ghote finds his own life in danger, as he is faced with a conspiracy that reaches to the very highest levels of Indian politics."

The Inspector Ghote Mysteries: an Omnibus

H.R.F. Keating

1996

An Inspector Ghote omnibus.

An omnibus that collects together the first three Inspector Ghote novels: The Perfect Murder; Inspector Ghote's Good Crusade; and Inspector Ghote Caught in Meshes

Inspector Ghote Hunts the Peacock

H.R.F. Keating

1968

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"The Indian police inspector is sent to attend an international conference on drug smuggling; and in cold, drizzling London he is faced with his first case outside India. It is a very odd case. The girl, Ranee, niece of relatives of Ghote who live in London, has vanished--seduced, kidnapped, murdered, so her relatives allege, by the notorious pop singer Johnny Bull. Ghote is hounded by the relatives into spending his few leisure hours from the conference in trying to find Ranee - known for her brilliance as The Peacock."

Inspector Ghote Plays a Joker

H.R.F. Keating

1969

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote embarks on one of his strangest cases when he is ordered to prevent a murder - the killing of a precious flamingo in the Bombay zoo. And then there is the racehorse fancied to win the local Derby, which gets replaced by a donkey... Ghote finds things going disastrously as bit by bit he unearths the traces of a monstrous practical joker. But then the fun stops - and Inspector Ghote has a more serious murder on his hands."

Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg

H.R.F. Keating

1970

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"In a small, provincial town in the heart of India, a politician's wife died under suspicious circumstances. That the corpse and the trail have been cold for fifteen years hasn't saved Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID from being sent to investigate. But what chance does he have when his chief suspect is so powerful, when the whole district is against him, and when a holy man is fasting to the death to protest his prying? But still the good inspector dutifully goes, carrying just the honour of his police force and a box of double-sized eggs."

Inspector Ghote Goes By Train

H.R.F. Keating

1971

An Inspector Ghote novel.

Inspector Ghote Trusts the Heart

H.R.F. Keating

1972

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Some crooks have tried to snatch the plump son of a business tycoon, and have accidentally made off with his playmate instead. But they're not changing their plan: a payment is to be delivered to them or a small corpse is to be delivered to Inspector Ghote. But what kind of ransom can a mere tailor's boy demand? And, as something more unpleasant than just a ransom note arrives from the kidnappers, are the police helping keep the boy in one piece?"

Bats Fly Up for Inspector Ghote

H.R.F. Keating

1974

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote is in trouble, worse trouble than ever before. When this adventure begins, he has already been relegated to the anti-pickpocket patrol, where he promptly gets himself into a fearful fix. Before long comes a topsy-turvy transfer to the Bats, as the specially selected officers of the Black-money and Allied Transactions Squad proudly call themselves. There Ghote is in worse straits, under compulsion to suspect every move and every word of his new super-efficient colleagues; he is also plagued by black thoughts about his loved ones at home."

Filmi, Filmi, Inspector Ghote

H.R.F. Keating

1976

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"A grisly murder has plunged Bollywood, the film capital of India, into chaos. Ghote gets so caught up with giving an Academy Award-winning performance as a sleuth that the curtain almost comes down on his own life."

Inspector Ghote Draws a Line

H.R.F. Keating

1979

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Sent to a remote part of India to find out who could benefit from Judge Asif's death, Ghote can get no cooperation from the judge until it becomes evident that the anonymous threats are coming from someone in the judge's household."

The Murder of the Maharajah

H.R.F. Keating

1980

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"A princely state in India, 1930, under the British Raj. To Bhopore and its opulent Summer Palace comes a handful of Western visitors to meet the outrageous Maharajah and his entourage. There they met 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?"

Go West Inspector Ghote

H.R.F. Keating

1981

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote meets California. Ghote has been sent across the world by a Sindhi businessman to remove his daughter from a Californian ashram retreat. This classical ‘locked-room mystery’ provokes teasing question after teasing question about two very different societies and two seemingly opposed attitudes to life. And he has to deal with an American Private Eye of appalling brashness as well as a swami who is part miracle-worker, part charlatan."

The Sheriff of Bombay

H.R.F. Keating

1984

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"When Inspector Ghote is asked to escort an ageing British film hero round Bombay's notorious red-light district, at first he is just embarrassed. But then he is confronted with a tricky problem - murder. And the suspect is none other than the highly respectable Sheriff of Bombay, ex-Rajah and former captain of the Indian cricket team. How can a mere policeman cope with all that?"

Under a Monsoon Cloud

H.R.F. Keating

1986

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"What had until recently been a police sergeant is now lying at Ghote's feet bleeding his last. An accident it may have been, but Ghote saw exactly what happened, and it's his duty to arrest the killer. Isn't it? Or can the inspector better serve his beloved police force by disposing of the body, by concealing a crime? And if he does, will he manage to keep his terrible secret? As an Inquiry begins beneath the first torrents of monsoon rain - will he even want to?"

The Body in the Billiard Room

H.R.F. Keating

1987

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Summoned from Bombay to the tiny hill station of Ootacamund, home of the exclusive Ooty Club, Inspector Ghote must determine who murdered a club servant on the very billiard table where snooker was invented."

Dead On Time

H.R.F. Keating

1988

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Ramrao Pendke, heir to a massive country fortune, is in Bombay recovering from a kidney transplant operation. Out taking exercise, Pendke visits the Ticktock watchworks and is bludgeoned to death. The head of the Bombay police backs the prompt arrest made by a pet officer of his, Assistant Inspector Lobo, who has forced a confession out of Rustom Fardoomji, owner of the watch store. Ghote has doubts about the confession. He also agrees with the relatives of the accused: Fardoomji would have no reason to do away with a wealthy customer. In order to placate these influential relatives, Ghote is sent to the dead man's home village - a slow-paced backwater the inspector finds maddening. In the course of his energetically pursued investigation he interviews an astrologer, the village barber, a boy Brahmin, and the dead man's grieving grandfather. In the face of a 24 hour ultimatum, Ghote at last finds the essential clue that solves the most difficult case of his career."

Inspector Ghote His Life and Crimes

H.R.F. Keating

1989

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"This is a collection of the best of Ghote's shorter adventures, brought together for the first time in book form. There is an introduction by the author explaining how and why Ghote came to life."

The Iciest Sin

H.R.F. Keating

1990

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Treachery is in the Bombay air as Inspector Ghote tries to put a blackmailer away and instead ends up witnessing a shattering crime that leaves him town between his duties as a lawman and his own set of values."

Cheating Death

H.R.F. Keating

1992

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"A top secret exam paper has been stolen and distributed around a college of Bombay University and the culprit, now lying in a coma, seems to have attempted suicide in a fit of shame and guilt. However, all is not what it seems as Inspector Ghote soon finds himself embroiled in a corrupt world."

Doing Wrong

H.R.F. Keating

1993

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote is sent from Bombay to Banares to investigate the peculiar circumstances surrounding Mrs. Shoba Popatkar's murder - a beloved national figure, known throughout the sub-continent for her lifelong commitment to virtuous causes. He feels only too keenly the official pressure to come up with a simple solution. Can he manage to satisfy both his superiors and his own need to discover the whole truth? Certainly, there are frustrating obstacles blocking his path as he doggedly makes his way through the throngs of the city's narrow lanes seeking the killer, not the least of which are the uncooperative local police officials."

Asking Questions

H.R.F. Keating

1996

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"At the Mira Behn Institute for Medical Research someone is smuggling out a dangerous drug, made from the venom of poisonous snakes. Inspector Ghote's suspect is the snake-handler Chandra Chagoo, but Chagoo's now lying dead on the floor of the Reptile Room, a viper slithering across his back."

Bribery, Corruption Also

H.R.F. Keating

1999

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Inspector Ghote is not a happy man. His wife has just inherited a big house in Calcutta and she is determined that they both move from his beloved Bombay to live a life of luxurious retirement in Calcutta. But when the couple arrive to view the property they find it in a state of terrible disrepair. Their lawyer advises them to sell it immediately - but Ghote detects a whiff of corruption and is determined to get to the bottom of it. The couple dig their heels in and refuse to sell - but the corruption extends way up the political ladder. And soon they are putting themselves in very great danger."

Breaking and Entering

H.R.F. Keating

2000

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"All Bombay is buzzing with news of the murder of Anil Ajmani. It is certainly a baffling case, for the millionaire was found stabbed to death in his tightly secure mansion. Every inspector in the Crime Branch hopes to nail the killer. Including Inspector Ghote. Unfortunately, he is the only officer not assigned to the case. Instead he has been given the less glorious task of tracking down a cat burglar. Aided - or perhaps hampered - by his old friend Axel Svensson, Ghote races to uncover Yeshwant's true identity. And in doing so unexpectedly finds that he may be the one to solve the murder of Anil Ajmani after all."

Inspector Ghote’s First Case

H.R.F. Keating

2008

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"Newly-promoted Inspector Ghote is thrilled to be granted casual leave until he takes up his post, as it allows him to spend time with his heavily pregnant wife, who is desperate to watch a showing of "Hamlet" at the cinema. Their plans are ruined, however, since Sir Rustom Engineer requires Ghote to investigate the suicide of his friend's wife. Worried about his wife's imminent delivery, Ghote nevertheless travels to the home of Mr. Dawkins, where he is unconvinced by the story of Iris Dawkins' death. Especially when he recognises the officer in charge, Darrani, well-known for his close-mindedness. Ghote is determined to investigate further, with a Hamlet-esque awareness of how deceiving appearances can really be."

A Small Case for Inspector Ghote?

H.R.F. Keating

2009

An Inspector Ghote novel.

"In his newest case Inspector Ghote finds himself working outside of the police force, as he becomes involved in tracking the brutal killer of a lowly peon, one of the underclass in Bombay society. Because of his low status, Bikram's death would be ignored but as his severed head landed on Ghote's desk, he feels it's up to him to find out what happened."