Gold of Our Fathers
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
The chief inspector in the Ghana police force investigates a gold miner’s death in this “atmospheric” mystery set in West Africa (Entertainment Weekly).
“Fans of The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency may have a new hero: Detective Inspector Darko Dawson.” —The Wall Street Journal
Darko Dawson has just been promoted to chief inspector in the Ghana police service—and it even comes with a (rather modest) salary bump. But he doesn’t have much time to celebrate, because his new boss is transferring him from Accra, Ghana’s capital, out to remote Obuasi in the Ashanti region, an area notorious for the illegal exploitation of its gold mines.
When Dawson arrives at the Obuasi headquarters, he finds it in complete disarray. The office is a mess of uncatalogued evidence and cold case files, morale is low, and discipline among officers is lax. Then, on only his second day on the job, the body of a Chinese mine owner is unearthed in his own gold quarry. As Dawson investigates the case, he quickly learns how dangerous it is to pursue justice in this kingdom of illegal gold mines, where the worst offenders have so much money they have no fear of the law.
Chosen for Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List,” Gold of Our Fathers is “exceptional . . . A window into another culture” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Quartey's exceptional fourth Darko Dawson mystery (after 2014's Murder at Cape Three Points) takes the Accra, Ghana, policeman, recently promoted to chief inspector, to the remote town of Obuasi. There he must work with the inept and undisciplined local police, whose deficiencies handicap him in investigating the murder of Bao Liu, a Chinese mine owner. Bao is but one of the many Chinese who have moved to Ghana to exploit, illegally, the country's rich gold reserves, a practice the government is incapable of stopping, or else unwilling to. Dawson has a number of suspects to question, including Bao's disgruntled workers, and a local who blames Bao for his son's death. He gets an ally in a journalist, Akua Helmsley, who suspects government collusion in the environmental damage wrought by the illegal miners. The revelation of the key clue is especially clever, and fans of mysteries that offer a window into another culture will be more than satisfied.
Customer Reviews
A different view of Ghana
I love the character development in the Darko Dawson series and the way the author interweaves social criticism with DCI Dawson's murder investigations.