Wife of the Gods, by Kwei Quartey
This is your basic detective novel, set in the west African nation of Ghana. The former makes it meh. The latter makes it worth reading -- at least for an old white guy in America, whose knowledge of African culture is, shall we say, lacking.
Now, I won't pretend this made me an expert on Ghanaian ways. But it did teach me a few things, left me wanting more, and, in the end, told a decent story.
The story introduces us to Darko Dawson, an inspector detective with the Ghanaian police, who lives and works in the capital city of Accra. He's a typical fictional detective -- good at his jobs, but with quirks and some personal problems. Dawson's quirks and problems include a quickness to violence, a fondness for smoking marijuana, a mother who mysteriously disappeared while he was still a child, and a son with a heart disease. All of these become plot-points in the book.
The story starts with the finding of the body of a young female AIDS worker in the fictional town of Ketanu, in the Volta Region in the east of Ghana. Dawson has a connection with the area -- he grew up there, and speaks the local dialect. So the police detective is sent to investigate the potential homicide.
But his visit there is not with problems -- he doesn't like leaving his wife and young son. The assignment seems like a punishment of some kind -- and he must deal with family issues left over from his youth. And while he knows the area, he has problems with the local police chief, and with the fetish priests -- local religious leaders who actions seem more self-serving than providing for their flock. They often act like and portray themselves as gods, and have many wives, often young girls who have been awarded to the priests for various reasons.
The book explores all these issues, dealing with local and tribal customs, and with the very nature of religion and the men who use it to dominate others. It's a common enough issue that we see all around us, no matter where we live.
The problems and the solutions are universal, although the details are African.
The story introduces us to Darko Dawson, an inspector detective with the Ghanaian police, who lives and works in the capital city of Accra. He's a typical fictional detective -- good at his jobs, but with quirks and some personal problems. Dawson's quirks and problems include a quickness to violence, a fondness for smoking marijuana, a mother who mysteriously disappeared while he was still a child, and a son with a heart disease. All of these become plot-points in the book.
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| Ghana, on the Gulf of Guinea, is outlined in red. |
But his visit there is not with problems -- he doesn't like leaving his wife and young son. The assignment seems like a punishment of some kind -- and he must deal with family issues left over from his youth. And while he knows the area, he has problems with the local police chief, and with the fetish priests -- local religious leaders who actions seem more self-serving than providing for their flock. They often act like and portray themselves as gods, and have many wives, often young girls who have been awarded to the priests for various reasons.
The book explores all these issues, dealing with local and tribal customs, and with the very nature of religion and the men who use it to dominate others. It's a common enough issue that we see all around us, no matter where we live.
The problems and the solutions are universal, although the details are African.
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