Cover of Wife of the gods
Read Time: ~5.3 hr

Wife of the gods

by Kwei J. Quartey (2009)

About this book

Lyrical and captivating, Kwei Quartey's debut novel brings to life the majesty and charm of Ghana--from the capital city of Accra to a small community where long-buried secrets are about to rise to the surface.In a shady grove outside the small town of Ketanu, a young woman--a promising med student--has been found dead under suspicious circumstances. Eager to close the case, the local police have arrested a poor, enamored teenage boy and charged him with murder. Needless to say, they are less than thrilled when an outside force arrives from the big city to lead an inquiry into the baffling case.Detective Inspector Darko Dawson, fluent in Ketanu's indigenous language, is the right man for the job, but he hates the idea of leaving his loving wife and young son, a plucky kid with a defective heart. Pressured by his cantankerous boss, Dawson agrees to travel to Ketanu, sort through the evidence, and tie up the loose ends as quickly and as efficiently as possible. But 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 sudden, inexplicable disappearance. Dawson is armed with remarkable insight and a healthy dose of skepticism, but these gifts, sometimes overshadowed by his mercurial temper, may not be enough to solve this haunting mystery. In Ketanu, he finds that his cosmopolitan sensibilities clash with age-old customs, including a disturbing practice in which teenage girls are offered by their families to fetish priests as trokosi, or Wives of the Gods.This is a compelling and unique mystery, enriched by an exotic setting and a vivid cast. And Inspector Darko Dawson--dedicated family man, rebel in the office, and ace in the field--is one of the most appealing sleuths to come along in years.From the Hardcover edition.

Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraModern Era
Protagonist / CoreWife of the gods Lead Character

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

Cover of Bone dust white

Bone dust white

Karin Salvalaggio

"Someone is knocking at the door to Grace Adams' house, and he won't stop. Grace thinks she knows who it is, but when she goes to her second floor window for a look she sees a woman she doesn't recognize. The woman isn't alone for long before a man emerges from the dark of the surrounding woods, stabs her, and leaves her for dead. Trying to help, Grace goes to the woman and is shocked to find that it's her mother Leanne--a woman who abandoned her 11 years before. There's nothing she can do, and Leanne is already past the point where she can tell Grace what happened all those years ago or why she came back now. While Grace was only a child when Leanne left her, Detective Macy Greeley has been waiting for Leanne ever since she disappeared from Collier, MT. She's looking to close a case that has been haunting the town for far too long, but Collier is a hard-bitten place where the people are fierce when it comes to keeping their feuds between themselves and keeping secrets hidden in the past. Karin Salvalaggio's outstanding crime fiction debut Bone Dust White is an absolutely stunning work that signals the entrance of a major new talent"--

Cover of The covenant

The covenant

Jeff Crook

"Jackie Lyons investigates a father's mysterious death, in the second installment of her ghostly mystery series. When photographer and former Memphis police detective Jackie Lyons finds Sam Loftin's lifeless body in the same location where his daughter died five years earlier, there's no reason to think he didn't kill himself, too. No reason, except Jackie has just seen Sam's ghost act out the last violent moments of his life. In investigating his murder, Jackie is drawn into a tumultuous battle between wealthy and powerful suburbanites and a charismatic preacher trying to serve the poor and homeless. But a deeper mystery lurks beneath the petty rivalries and jealousies of a gated community, one that stretches back into the distant past and reaches out to snare the youngest of this generation. A secret so dark, it can only be protected by "The Covenant.""--

Cover of The silent dead

The silent dead

Tetsuya Honda

"When a body wrapped in a blue plastic tarp and tied up with twine is discovered near the bushes near a quiet suburban Tokyo neighborhood, Lt. Reiko Himekawa and her squad take the case. The victim was slaughtered brutally--his wounds are bizarre, and no one can figure out the "what" or the "why" of this crime. At age twenty-nine, Reiko Himekawa of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's Homicide Division is young to have been made lieutenant, particularly because she lacks any kind of political or family connections. Despite barriers created by age, gender, and lack of connections, she is mentally tough, oblivious to danger, and has an impressive ability to solve crimes. Reiko makes a discovery that leads the police to uncover eleven other bodies, all wrapped in the same sort of plastic. Few of the bodies are identifiable, but the ones that are have no connection to each other. The only possible clue is a long shot lead to a website spoken only in whispers on the Internet, something on the dark web known as "Strawberry Night." But while she is hunting the killer, the killer is hunting her ... and she may very well have been marked as the next victim"--

Cover of Hide and seek

Hide and seek

M.J. Arlidge

"Caught in a wicked game of cat and mouse, Helen Grace finds herself trapped among the hunted in the darkest thriller yet from the international bestselling author of Little Boy Blue and Eeny Meeny. Framed for a murder she didn't commit ... As one of HM Prison Holloway's most high-profile new inmates, Helen Grace has a target on her back and nowhere to hide. She has made a long list of enemies over the course of her career--some are incarcerated within these very walls. When one of Helen's fellow prisoners is found mutilated and murdered in her own locked cell, it's clear that the killer is someone on the inside. But time is running out for Helen as she races to expose the person who framed her, and the body count in the prison starts to climb. Helen will need to draw on all her investigative skills and instincts to catch the serial killer behind these murders and discover the truth--unless the killer finds her first"--

Wife of the gods by Kwei J. Quartey | Literally Just Books