Cheating Death

H. R. F. Keating

Sep 2020 · Severn House Publishers Ltd

About this ebook

Inspector Ghote, 'one of the great creations of detective fiction' (Alexander McCall Smith), investigates the curious case of a stolen exam paper in this classic mystery - with a brand-new introduction by bestselling author Vaseem Khan. Bombay University is in the grip of a cheating scandal, centred on one of its most deplorable colleges. A final exam paper has been stolen and sold prior to the test, leading to calls for the principal's immediate resignation. The prime suspect for the theft, the student Bala Chambhar, is in a coma, after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Inspector Ganesh Ghote of the Bombay CID is sent in to wrap up what appears to be a straightforward case: how did Bala steal the paper from Principal Bembalkar's locked office? But what he finds soon leads him to ask a different question: did Bala try to take his own life - or was he poisoned? Hindered by student protests, and under pressure from his superiors, Ghote investigates with his usual thoroughness, only to find corruption, scandal and chaos wherever he looks . . .

About the author

H. R. F. Keating, known as Harry to his family and friends, was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, in 1926. He was educated at Merchant Taylors School in London and Trinity College, Dublin, before training as a journalist. As well as publishing over sixty books in his lifetime, Keating was the crime fiction reviewer for The Times for fifteen years and held many prestigious roles, including Chairman of the Society of Authors and President of the Detection Club. Keating's first novel about Inspector Ghote, The Perfect Murder, won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers Association and an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award, and was later made into a film by Merchant Ivory. He subsequently won many more awards, including the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger for outstanding services to crime literature. He lived in London with his wife, the actor Sheila Mitchell, until his death in 2011, aged eighty-four.