Inspector Ghote Draws a Line

Book excerpt: Inspector Ghote, 'one of the great creations of detective fiction' (Alexander McCall Smith), is sent to the remote Indian countryside to protect a formidable retired judge who's been receiving death threats in this classic mystery - with a brand-new introduction by bestselling author Vaseem Khan. Inspector Ganesh Ghote of the Bombay CID is ordered off to the remote, heat-soaked Indian countryside to protect an aged, unpopular and rigidly obstinate judge of the British Raj era, against whom death threats have been made. In the old house, Ghote soon finds that his chief opponent is not the unknown who has been leaving Justice Sir Asif Ibrahim threatening letters, but the formidable, iron-principled old judge himself, who dismisses the threats as mere foolishness and refuses to cooperate with Ghote's investigation. The good inspector is determined to do his duty, and soon has both a lengthy list of suspects - including the judge's own beautiful, high-strung daughter, a radical American priest and the editor of a left-wing newspaper - and a possible motive for shutting up the judge: he is writing his memoirs, and who knows what secrets the old man is planning to reveal . . .