When the English crown featuring the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond is stolen, Inspector Chopra is convinced that his nemesis Assistant Commissioner Rao is wrong to have arrested former police officer Garewal for the crime, despite the crown (absent the diamond) being found in Garewal’s house, and he is determined to catch the real culprit. Meanwhile, Chopra’s associate Rangwalla is given the task of identifying the students at Poppy’s school who have stolen a prized sculpture and test papers, a task made more difficult by the arrogance of the young students. And some other kids are not treating the baby elephant Ganesha very well at all…. This is the second in the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series and like its predecessor, it is funny and generally gentle, although there are some graphically violent scenes. The characters are all charming and interesting, and Ganesha is a treat. This is a series that should be read in order, I think, but however one meets these characters, the reader will be happy to have done so; recommended. ( )

Really enjoyed this one! Seems like Mr. Khan has gotten into a groove with this second book. I think it is even better than the first book where you could sense a little searching in terms of direction for the characters and series. Ganesha is so adorable and smart! ( )

Charming characters and a fun mystery. ( )

As lovely and gentle as Imspector Chopra (Ret'd) himself with lovely minor characters in Ganesha, Poppy and Irfan. ( )

Another mystery riddled with ridiculous coincidence and unlikely behaviors. That's quite enough of that. ( )

Retired Mumbaikar Detective Chopra is viewing the visiting Coronation Crown of England when he hears a high pitched noise, then an explosion, and is knocked unconscious. When he awakes the Crown is missing and it is up to him to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Later the Crown shows up in a most unlikely spot but the Koh-i-nor diamond is missing and so off goes Chopra with his baby elephant, Ganesh, on a hunt for the diamond.

In many places I skimmed, as I found most of the narrative long, drawn out, & boring; but once the dialog & the action got going the book picked-up. ( )

I love this series featuring an elephant sidekick. Retired Inspector Chopra visits an exhibit featuring the crown jewels in a Mumbai museum. As his group visits the crown with its magnificent diamond, a series of events results in the theft of the priceless gem. A former colleague was framed for the theft. Although Chopra is not 100% convinced of the man's innocence, he decides to pursue the investigation.

Following the success of his previous case, his agency gained popularity. Finding one of his former colleagues cut by his successors, Chopra hires him to help. He assigns him to the case Poppy wishes him to investigate concerning a missing founder's bust at a school. Then Irfan's father finds him and takes him away. That story's ending will delight all of Ganesh's fans.

I love these books and listen to them on audio. I suspect I wouldn't like them half as much without Ganesh the elephant. They are pure entertainment, and in these days of COVID-19, they are exactly what I need! I look forward to the next one. ( )

Death in Paradise - British crime series set in the Caribbean - in Mumbai.

A great story, light hearted yet cleverly plotted and filled with some great moments. Well written and makes you want to read the next one.

For complete review please click on the link below:

https://onerightword.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/the-perplexing-theft-of-jewel-in-cro...

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THE PERPLEXING THEFT OF THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN is a genuine treat and is particularly recommended to those looking for something other than an endless stream of death from their crime fiction. There isn’t even a murder in it. Well there’s one death that might count but I’d wager that even the most law-abiding reader would let this one through to the keeper.

Inspector Ashwin Chopra (Retd), former Mumbai policeman and current private investigator, visits a touring exhibition of the Crown Jewels (yes those ones) with his wife Poppy. Before they can do more than glance at a case or two everyone in the room falls to the floor. When they are woken the centrepiece of the exhibit, the crown in which the Koh-i-Noor diamond was set for Edward VII’s wife after being used in a bracelet and a brooch in during its relatively short time in British hands, has been stolen. Of course there is an official police investigation but it is being led by one of Mumbai’s most corrupt officers (refer to the first book in this series) and the prime suspect who has already been arrested begs Chopra to clear his name.

It’s hard to know where to start listing all the things there are to love about this book. Perhaps the wonderfully drawn characters. Chopra is a delight. Intelligent, a little old-fashioned but self aware enough to know it. And his integrity is not a remote concept but something he lives and breathes. Which can have truly disastrous consequences such as when he refuses to pay the bribe some petty bureaucrat demands in return for allowing Chopra’s elephant to remain in his restaurant’s back yard. Ganesh, the baby elephant Chopra inherited from his uncle, has become entrenched in the Chopra family’s life and plays an important role in this story. It sounds like a silly gimmick I know but Khan does a great job of making Ganesh’s various forays into the book’s events seem perfectly normal. And I want to believe so I shall. Chopra’s wife Poppy really comes into her own here as she takes on a teaching job at an exclusive boys’ school and then has to help investigate a theft there. Then there’s Rangwalla who was fired from the police force when it became clear he had helped Chopra during the events depicted in the first book of this series. Happily Chopra’s new business venture has so much work that he can employ his old friend who proves very canny. And a star of the Chopra’s unorthodox and ever-extending ‘family’ circle is young Irfan, once a street beggar now working at the restaurant. He and his troubles will melt the hardest of hearts.

Though its characters are warm and not beset by damaging addictions (cricket doesn’t count) THE PERPLEXING THEFT OF THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN is not all sweetness and light. Even without a central murder the book’s crimes show the complexities of life in modern Mumbai with corruption being as commonplace as breathing, poverty remaining a profound problem for some despite the progress of recent years and the new, wealthy class providing a particular kind of social problem.

And I haven’t even mentioned the ripper yarn. There’s a clever locked room mystery, thefts galore, a kidnapping or two (well one is an elephant) and the infiltration of a meeting of mask-wearing rich chaps not bothered by the many crimes they are at least adjacent to if not directly involved with. A true adventure.

I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t feel at least little bit better after reading this book

Ashwin Chopra is a retired policeman in Mumbai, India. He runs a restaurant with his mother-in-law, catering mainly for serving policemen, has a pet baby elephant and runs a private detective agency. He is present at an exhibition when the British Crown Jewels are stolen - actually, just the Koh-I-Noor diamond is taken. Although not formally involved in the investigation, Chopra agrees to help a colleague who says he is falsely accused of the theft. Multiple sub-plots weave around his investigations and his close friends and family.

Khan gives us an intimate portrait of modern life in Mumbai - good and bad, high and low. The pictures he paints are sometimes shocking to Western sensibilities, but are always imbued with an honesty and pragmatism that reflects how life is lived in one of the largest and busiest cities in the world. The middle-aged Chopra is an intelligent, caring, gentle, philosophical, almost sentimental man who solves crimes by seeing into the hearts and minds of his suspects. An oriental Poirot, if you please. Chopra is immensely likeable and is surrounded by characters who may have rough edges, but are revealed as human (even if, in one case, this only comes in extremis).

This is a well-constructed novel that draws the reader in with characters we want to know more about, with fascinating insights to daily life in Mumbai and with the unravelling of the crimes being investigated. ( )

Vaseem Khan has written another enjoyable mystery in his Baby Ganesh series-- the only series I know of that has a baby elephant as a sleuth (and Ganesha does good work). In many ways, this series reminds me of Tarquin Hall's Vish Puri mysteries set in New Delhi. It gives readers the same wonderful cultural flavor (minus the mouth-watering food). If you love books that give a real feel for the climate and culture of another country, this is a series that you should enjoy, especially if you start with the first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra.

In this second book, there's so much work that needs to be done that Chopra has to hire another investigator. Rangwalla also worked on the Mumbai police force, and he's a person Chopra likes and trusts. While Chopra focuses on the jewel theft to clear the name of an old friend, Rangwalla is put to work with Chopra's wife, Poppy, to solve a series of crimes occurring at the school in which Poppy teaches. This leaves the young elephant Ganesha at home being cared for by young Irfan, a boy who also helps out at Chopra's restaurant. When Irfan disappears and disreputable people take advantage of the adults' absence to haul away Ganesha, a rather surprising (and endearing) hero rises up to save the day.

The mystery involving the jewel theft is engaging, and I'd say that the series as a whole is almost perfect... except for one area of blight. Chopra's mother-in-law, Poornima, is the darkness in this series. This woman lives to hate, find fault, belittle people, and cause endless trouble simply because she can. Thankfully the woman has a lesser role in this book than she did the first, but she's also been given a larger scope to do damage. I'd love to pick up the next book to discover that Chopra is working to solve Poornima's murder, but I fear the suspect pool would be insurmountable. Oops, I think my involvement with the characters and stories is showing!

Yours just might, too, if you give Chopra and his baby elephant a test read-- and I hope you will! ( )

4* ( )