Following a heart attack, Inspector Ashwin Chopra is taking an early retirement from the Mumbai Police, although he is quite ambivalent about the matter. His last day includes recording the death of a young man, which might be an accidental drowning or might be murder, and the surprise gift from his Uncle Bansi of a baby elephant. Chopra has no idea what to do with the elephant, nor does he know how to deal with his retirement, until his replacement’s lack of interest in investigating the young man’s death leads to Chopra taking charge once more, this time on his own…. This is the first in the Baby Ganesh series, introducing us to the main characters and describing how the detective agency came into existence. As with other books by Mr. Khan that I have enjoyed, this novel contains a lot of interesting information about life in Mumbai, with well-drawn and thoughtful characters and an intriguing story line. I have to admit to being extremely anxious about the baby elephant, at least for the first half of the book or so, but aside from that apprehension (which is resolved by the end), I very much enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more about Chopra, Poppy and, of course, especially Ganesha; recommended! ( )

An enjoyable if somewhat ridiculous story of a retired detective and his baby elephant sidekick fighting crime. It should be completely implausible, but the good nature that permeates the story somehow makes up for the story issues. Will try more ( )

Really enjoyed this book. It's great to read a book set in another country and this mystery was a fun read. The baby elephant was icing on the cake! Looking forward to reading the next one. As a fan of McCall Smith, I wouldn't say this has his philosophical insights, but I liked the view of another country and culture. ( )

Since I always liked reading stories of criminal investigations in india, I of course also liked this book. It's very nice to read and the characters are depicted very lovely. You can almost imagine standing besides them and watching the story like in a movie while reading the book. The cutest part of the story was of course the baby elephant Ganesh. I'm really looking forward to reading new books of the series and "meeting" Poppy, Chopra, Ganesh and their friends, investigations and "enemies" again. ( )

Indian style cozy with a baby elephant sidekicking the retired inspector. A fun, fanciful read. ( )