“Fans of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency may have a new hero: Detective Inspector Darko Dawson.”—The Wall Street JournalIntroducing Detective Inspector Darko Dawson: dedicated family man, rebel in the office, ace in the field—and one of the most appealing sleuths to come along in years. When we first meet Dawson, he’s been ordered by his cantankerous boss to leave behind his loving wife and … leave behind his loving wife and young son in Ghana’s capital city to lead a murder investigation: In a shady grove outside the small town of Ketanu, a young woman—a promising medical student—has been found dead under suspicious circumstances. Dawson is fluent in Ketanu’s indigenous language, so he’s the right man for the job, but the local police are less than thrilled with an outsider’s interference. For Dawson, this sleepy corner of Ghana is rife with emotional land mines: an estranged relationship with the family he left behind twenty-five years earlier and the painful memory of his own mother’s inexplicable disappearance. Armed with remarkable insight and a healthy dose of skepticism, Dawson soon finds his cosmopolitan sensibilities clashing with age-old customs, including a disturbing practice in which teenage girls are offered to fetish priests as trokosi, or Wives of the Gods. Delving deeper into the student’s haunting death, Dawson will uncover long-buried secrets that, to his surprise, hit much too close to home.
Praise for Wife of the Gods
“An absolute gem . . . mystery fans have an important new voice to savor.”—Los Angeles Times
“Full of suspense, humor and plot twists . . . Quartey’s remarkable characters give the reader a worthy whodunit.”—Ebony
“[A] winning debut . . . Dawson is a wonderful creation, a man as rich with contradictions as the Ghana Quartey so delightfully evokes.”—Publishers Weekly
“Engrossing . . . [Quartey] renders a compelling cast of characters. . . . Fans of McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency will relish the opportunity to discover yet another intriguing area of Africa.”—Booklist (starred review)
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This is an excellent book. Excellent in that it exceeds the standard I set for a good book in every way. The five chapters were so good that I stopped reading and began again. It isn’t just the prose or the characters or the setting but the natural progression of the plot as it moves back and forth in time, switching perspectives and characters …
I love Kwei Quartey’s series on Inspector Darko Dawson Mysteries. “Wife of the Gods” is the first in his five series of books. Quartey is a wonderful writer. I’m on book four in this five book series.
This is my first book from Kwei Quartey, and what a tremendous story! I solved this pretty early, but with all the twists and turns, I never knew if I was on the right track. It was a thrilling ride! I’d never heard of the Darko Dawson series until a recent scroll through Goodreads. Seeing what others are reading is one of the things I enjoy about …
I learned about the gods and curses, a good and different read.
It has been about five or six years since I read this book and I still think of it. Very compelling!
Great evocation of the setting and culture
Brilliant!
Great cultural integration with believable characters. Plot kept me guessing.
A detective series set in Africa, with a lovable police hero, and his charming family providing a nice counterpoint to the bad guys, and the challenges of an underfunded bureaucracy.
I bought this book because it was described as similar to the writing of Alexander McCall Smith. Except for being in Africa, there was absolutely no resemblance to Smith’s writing. It was depressing and unpleasant.
Excellent story with engaging characters and action packed plot.
Avery satisfying mystery with a fascinating glimpse into life in Ghana in Accra and in small towns in the country, showing some of the tensions between older traditions and modern ways. I look forward to reading more by this author.
I loved this glimpse into Ghana through their version of a police procedural. I also enjoyed learning about the old and rural beliefs.
I just finished Wife of the Gods. (A Darko Dawson Mystery Book 1) by Kwei Quartey.
Interestingly, it is set in Ghana which I really enjoyed. Learned a lot. It was a good mystery, too, and I didn’t catch the killer until probably 80% (just a guess). What I didn’t get was why the title. The wives of the gods are called Trokosi and they are young …