Published by Mulholland Books / Hodder, 2018, 360 pages.

An American billionaire is found dead in his room at the Grand Raj Palace in Mumbai with a knife sticking out of his chest. The room is locked, and there is no sign of anyone else having been there. On the mirror in the bathroom are scrawled the words “I am sorry” in what looks like blood. Ostensibly, the death is a suicide.

The American, Hollis Burbank, had been in Mumbai for an art auction held at the Grand Raj Palace. Two days before he was found dead, Burbank had bought a painting by an Indian artist for 10 million dollars.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police wants the case wrapped up quickly—an American billionaire dying in one of India’s prestigious hotels does not bode well. But Rohan Tripathi, the police inspector in charge of the case, is not entirely convinced that it was a suicide. So he calls on his friend, retired police inspector Ashwin Chopra, to look into the death discreetly.

Chopra, accompanied by his pet baby elephant Ganesha, visits the crime scene and is convinced that it was not suicide but murder. As he talks to the people who knew Burbank, the picture that emerges is of someone arrogant and ruthless. Burbank was definitely not the sort of man to kill himself, never mind apologize for anything. And he had plenty of enemies: the businessman Avinash Aginihotri, who was bidding for the painting that Burbank bought; the art critic Adam Padamsee, whose wife Burbank insulted; and maybe even the artist Shiva Swarup.  

But the more Chopra looks into the case, the more convoluted it gets. Who was Hollis Burbank? And was this really his first trip to India, as he claimed?

To make his life even more complicated, Chopra is in the bad books of his wife Poppy, who is trying to organize their 25th wedding anniversary celebrations. Chopra does not understand why she wants to have a big event for something so private, and in any case, he is too busy with his investigation to be of much help. Poppy is also a little worried about the amount of time her husband is spending with the attractive auction director, Lisa Taylor, who is keen to have Burbank’s death cleared up.

So Poppy books a room at the hotel, in the hope of getting her husband’s attention. There she bumps into Anjali, a bride-to-be, whose wedding is to take place at the hotel. The wedding is a union between two well-known families, and they are sparing no expense. However, after a chat with Poppy, Anjali disappears. While Chopra is looking into Burbank’s death, Poppy trains her investigative skills on finding Anjali, helped by Anjali’s grandmother.

It is not just the humans who are making trouble for Chopra. There is also a monkey who appears to belong to a starlet staying at the hotel. The monkey has taken a strong dislike to Ganesha and keeps getting him into trouble.

The Grand Raj Palace is quite clearly based on the Taj Mahal Palace, one of Mumbai’s oldest and most iconic hotels, and it feels like Vaseem Khan knows it well.

This whodunnit is given an extra dimension by Ganesha, who is as much of a character as the humans. I loved the fact that no one in the hotel seems to bat an eyelid at the presence of a baby elephant following the detective around.

This is a quick and very enjoyable read. This is the fourth in the Baby Ganesha series, and I will be looking out for the others!