Wife of the Gods

May 3, 2010
The murder of a young med student brings Det. Insp. Darko Dawson from his police department in Ghana’s capital, Accra, to the smalltown of Ketanu, where some dark secrets of his own lie buried. In returning to this familiar landscape, Dawson looks to solve this murder as well as unlock the secrets surrounding the disappearance of his mother so many years ago. Quartey delivers an intriguing and enjoyable mystery set against the backdrop of a Ghana in turmoil over its changing cultural values, from its traditional roots into a disconnected, modernized world. With a crisp English accent and deep but deliberate projection, Simon Prebble is a boon to any production. He creates clear and distinct voices that make it easy to follow the different speaking roles, regardless of the African names that listeners may not be familiar with. His narration is consistent and compelling in his rhythm and emphasis, and blends beautifully with Quartey’s style. A Random hardcover.

April 13, 2009
Quartey's winning debut, a police procedural set in modern Ghana, introduces gifted detective Darko Dawson. Dawson leaves the capital city of Accra to investigate a murder in remote Ketanu, where traditional beliefs about the spirit world still reign. He finds no lack of suspects, as the beautiful victim was a married man's impatient mistress and a controversial crusader against AIDS and trokosi
, the ancient custom in which young girls become slave wives to local priests. Ketanu is also the village from which Dawson's mother disappeared years before, and his visits awaken a buried need to solve that mystery as well. Dawson is a wonderful creation, a man as rich with contradictions as the Ghana Quartey so delightfully evokes—a loving husband and father with anger management issues on the job and a personal fondness for marijuana. Despite a not hugely exciting denouement, readers will be eager for the next installment in what one hopes will be a long series.

June 1, 2009
Move over Alexander McCall Smith. Ghana has joined Botswana on the map of mystery.

All too shortly after her brother Charles reports her missing to Ketanu's Inspector Max Fiti, the body of Gladys Mensah, medical student and AIDS-outreach volunteer, is found in the forest by Efia, the fourth wife of Togbe Adzima, chief and High Priest of Bedome. Testimony indicates that Gladys was returning from Bedome to Ketanu but never completed her journey, perhaps because she was detained by Samuel Boateng, the 19-year-old who had a crush on her. Inspector Fiti, uneasily aware that he's out past his depth, asks for help from the police force in nearby Ho, but instead Timothy Sowah, the director of the AIDS program, convinces higher-ups to send Detective Inspector Darko Dawson from the capital city of Accra to Ketanu, the town from which his mother disappeared after a visit to her infant nephew 23 years ago. Despite Dawson's interest in Ketanu, the small-town cop and the big-city cop don't exactly bond, and soon Dawson crosses swords with Fiti over the local officer's methodical beatings of Samuel Boateng, whom he's convinced murdered Gladys. Ironically, Dawson's hands are no cleaner than Fiti's. His explosive temper has already led him to attack both Togbe Adzima and a witch doctor whose unauthorized treatment nearly killed Dawson's son.

Quartey's approach to detective work is less charming and more sociological than McCall Smith's, his setting more rural and susceptible to the ways of magicians. There's plenty of room for them both, and the newcomer is most welcome.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from May 15, 2009
A medical resident working with Ghana's Ministry of Health's AIDS program is murdered, and Detective Inspector Darko Dawson has been asked to investigate. Not only is he an excellent detective but he has family ties to the village. Alas, nothing about this case is simple, and the growing rift between Dawson's modern police work and a local inspector's refusal to move past traditionally accepted beliefs jeopardizes a successful arrest. The uncommon grace and style of the writing will engender comparisons with Alexander McCall Smith's Botswana stories, but this novel has more grit. Darko is a sleuth full of contradictions, a tough defender of justice and truth who is also a habitual pot smoker. Yet it's the crossover between Dark's professional life and personal issues that helps drive the plot and makes his story more relatable. This well-crafted first novel is a smart purchase for all libraries and a great choice for a book club discussion. [Library marketing; for an African mystery readalike, see also Michael Stanley's "The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu."Ed.]Stacey Hayman, Rocky River P.L., OH

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2009
Quarteys crisp, engrossing debut introduces readers to Darko Dawson, a talented and temperamental detective inspector in Accra, capital city ofGhana. As the novel opens, DI Dawson is called out to the remote village of Ketanu to investigate the suspicious death of Gladys Mensah, a medical student and passionate AIDS worker. Was Gladys killed for her professional ambition (she had a run-in with a local healer who was convinced she was stealing his potions) or because of an unrequited romance with a married man? Returning to Ketanu is a deeply emotional experience for DI Dawson, whose mother disappeared there more than two decades before. He immediately senses the hostility of the Ketanu police, who resent having a big-city officer in their midst. He is also unsettled by the areas tolerance of the custom of trokosi, in which beleaguered families atone for sins by marrying off their young daughters to fetish priests. Quartey, a Ghana-born medical doctor who now lives in Los Angeles, renders a compelling cast of characters inhabiting a world precariously perched between old and new. Fans of McCallSmiths No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels will relish the opportunity to discover yet another intriguing area of Africa.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)