Wife of the Gods, An Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery by Kwei Quartey
I was drawn to Wife of the Gods, An Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery by Kwei Quartey for the cover alone. I just love how African it feels.
Wife of the Gods is a whodunit murder mystery and in full honesty if the book wasn’t set in Africa without its many African themes and traditions I doubt I would have even given the book a second glance. But what sets this book apart is its Ghanan African setting as well as its memorable characters.
In a small village of Ketanu, Gladys, a young medical student, is murdered in the forest and Detective Darko Dawson is brought in from the large city (obviously much to the annoyance of the local police) to oversee the investigation. For Darko, the village of Ketanu brings back vivid memories. He often visited his aunt with his mother twenty-five years earlier as a boy. But that all changed when his mother went for a visit and never returned. The mystery of her disappearance was never solved. Darko intends to not only investigate the murder to which he has been assigned but also to seek out new clues into his mother’s disappearance.
It’s not easy though. Darko is a complex character who leaves behind a loving wife and a young son who needs a heart operation. He also has an anger management problem, although sympathetically it comes out when he sees those less fortunate being abused. And he can’t help but use his police power to procure marijuana.
Darko clashes with the local culture which is still held by the strong belief in witchcraft and age-old traditions, such as virgin girls being offered up to fetish priests as trokosi, or Wives of the Gods. His investigation is slowed by such beliefs and even the local police are apprehensive to question certain individuals in fear of angering the Gods.
Darko uncovers a myriad of suspects, characters who are all memorable in their own right: Gladys herself, who was an AIDS worker and gave many a motive for her death; Samuel, a young man with a simple crush; Timothy who worked with Gladys in AIDS education; Isaac Kutu, the local herbalist and healer; Togbe Adzima, the fetish priest and his several wives; Elizabeth, Gladys’s aunt and believed by many to be a witch; and even his own Auntie Osewa who has a background which she’d rather keep secret.
There was one thing that hindered my full enjoyment of the novel and that was that I couldn’t recall characters after they were previously introduced. There were a couple of times that I thought I was reading about a new character and then had to stop and see if I already knew who they were, which I realized I did. Rechecking previous passages of the book always takes me out of the story a bit. Fault of the reader and not the author? Maybe? Fault of the author and not the reader? Maybe? To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure.
Wife of the Gods is recommended for those who like a good mystery and intriguing characters. Not only is there a mysterious murder to solve but several ideas to think upon including that of new culture vs. new, African culture, traditional and advanced medicine, family relations, and more. And man, Quartey has convinced me that I’d love to visit Ghana for the food alone. So many wonderful descriptions of the food!
If there are to be more books about Inspector Darko Dawson then I will be sure to check them out. A series worth following.
Book trailer for Wife of the Gods:
When you read mysteries how often do you guess who the murderer is correctly? I don’t often read whodunit genre books but I must admit that Kwei Quartey kept me on my toes although I rightly suspected the murderer (but don’t until about 3/4 of the way through the book).
Links of interest: TLC Book Tour stops, Wife of the Gods website, Wife of the Gods excerpt, reading group discussion questions, more book bloggers book reviews, and a thoughtful interview with Kwei Quartey at Jen’s Book Thoughts.
Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Random House. July 14, 2009
Hardcover, 336 pages. ISBN: 1400067596
Wife of the Gods is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Category: Adult, Book Reviews, Fiction
Tags: Africa, blog tour, book trailers, Ghana, mystery, published 2009, Q-T Author, review copy, TLC Book Tour, U-Z Title, videos
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I really do not read many whodunit books either. I do like the cover and the story does sound interesting.
on August 17th, 2009 at 10:51 amI don’t know why books in this genre introduce so many characters! But I too have trouble remembering from one chapter to the next. When I read a mystery, generally I keep a pad of paper nearby to record who’s who. Your review makes this one sound well worthwhile.
on August 17th, 2009 at 10:56 amI think I’m in the minority in that I rarely even try to figure out whodunit. Whether I figure it out or not rarely impacts my pleasure in reading said story, either.
on August 17th, 2009 at 12:17 pmI really want to read this one! I think I figure out the mystery about half the time in a whodunit.
on August 17th, 2009 at 4:54 pmYou have thoroughly piqued my interest! I am adding this to my TBR list as we speak.
on August 17th, 2009 at 7:48 pmI am glad you enjoyed this, Natasha. I read a lot of crime fiction, I confess, and love mysteries set in other countries. I look forward to reading more in the series.
In answer to your question, I do tend to figure out the whodunit early on in a book. Fortunately for me, my enjoyment of a mystery is not contingent on that fact. I love reading as the story unravels.
on August 17th, 2009 at 8:26 pmI don’t read very mysteries (or whodunit) books either, but when I do I consciously try NOT to guess who the murderer is. Seems if I can guess what’s going to happen I’m always a little disappointed. Although, at the moment of discovery, it always feels good to know you may have figured it out…
on August 17th, 2009 at 8:37 pmHmm, good to know, maybe I’ll try to keep a list of all the characters when I read this.
on August 18th, 2009 at 8:03 amHi Natasha, Great review. I’m so glad you enjoyed the book and really appreciate all the time you put into reading and reviewing it! I don’t read a lot of mysteries but I do enjoy books set in Africa for some reason. And with whodunits I don’t actively try to figure it out, but if it turns out to be the person I suspect, I love having that moment when I can say, “I KNEW IT!”
on August 18th, 2009 at 10:46 amI hadn’t heard of this book before, but it sounds really interesting. I don’t read a lot of mystery books, but when I do I like ones that keep me guessing. And yes, I do guess. Constantly, without even meaning to. Sometimes I drive myself a bit crazy by trying to figure out who the person is. So, maybe it’s a good thing I don’t read many whodunit books..
on August 18th, 2009 at 10:58 amGreat review, I’m going to add this to my TBR list!
I hate it when I can figure out who the murderer is in whodunnit. Books like that should keep me guessing until the end. I would say I figure it out pretty quickly maybe half of the time, though.
on August 19th, 2009 at 2:08 pmI’m totally clueless when it comes to figuring out the culprit.
I’ve read a little bit of crime/mystery, but I prefer mine with a bit of comedy, but this one looks really interesting!
on August 19th, 2009 at 5:29 pmI try to guess but most of the times am as misled as the characters in the mystery. Bad at guessing. Nice review . Thanks for stopping by at my blog.
on August 19th, 2009 at 10:00 pm[...] Monday, August 17th: Maw Books [...]
on August 20th, 2009 at 12:52 amI am pretty hit or miss with mysteries, but this one sounds especially wonderful because of the layered themes throughout the book. I’m adding it to my TBR list – thanks for the wonderful review.
on August 20th, 2009 at 11:45 amGreat review! You managed to touch on all the main elements, I couldn’t figure out how to get the wives into mine. There was just so much going on in this book! I am very good at narrowing down suspects. I can usually get to two strong possibilities with motive, partially from what’s happening in the book but a lot of times by just knowing how stories work. I always think it’s fun if their are enough clues to make a reasonably educated guess, but I enjoy mysteries regardless of whether I can solve the crime or not.
on August 22nd, 2009 at 5:13 amI read this too, and I also wasn’t certain of the murderer until near the end — a mark of a successful mystery, I think.
BTW, I didn’t have the problem you did with not remembering that I had already met characters. They seemed distinctive enough.
on September 1st, 2009 at 7:11 am