Last of the series. I’ve enjoyed it for the glimpses of culture and the plots were adequate .Characterization was primarily centered on the detective himself, Darko Dawson, and on his family life. ( )

Chief Inspector Darko Dawson is back in Accra. His wife Christine's first cousin Kate is having fertility (and marital) problems with her husband Solomon, and is seeking help from her pastor. Then, Kate is brutally murdered in her own home, and the suspect list is quite large, especially since everyone seems to agree she is a nice lady. Darko is assigned a new female partner, which is unusual in Ghana. Author Quarey does a nice job making readers feel Ghanaian as well as wrapping Darko's family life into the story, without interfering with the police mystery. 3.5 stars rounded up. ( )

Death by his Grace by Kwei Quartey is the fifth book in the police procedural series that features Chief Inspector Darko Dawson of Ghana. In this outing Darko is investigating the murder of his wife’s friend and cousin. Katherine had married into a family where both her mother-in-law and sister-in-law didn’t think she was good enough. Then when she failed to get pregnant, her marriage fell apart. The couple tried marriage counselling with a Pentecostal Bishop, but Katherine’s husband still left and she was being called a witch by her in-laws. Then the night before Katherine was going to move out of the marriage home, she is attacked and murdered.

This mystery played out against the backdrop of the city of Accra and the culture of Ghana and while the investigation plays out in a straight forward manner, we are also drawn into Darko’s private problems with his father’s dementia and his concern over his adoptive son, Sly, who appears to be hanging out with the wrong people. Along with these problems and the investigation, he is also dealing with training a new assistant and a re-occurrence of his malarial attacks.

I enjoy these books and appreciate learning about the culture of the country. I didn’t appreciate that this particular book ended with a massive cliffhanger and since it appears that the author has moved on to a new series, I am left wondering if this is the end of the series or whether there will be another book. ( )

An interesting mystery set in Ghana. Inspector Dawson is reluctant to take the case of the murder of his wife's favorite cousin. He is aware that murder investigations sometimes turn up secrets that are unwelcome. However the case is put in his hands, and aided by his new, female partner he begins to probe the private life of his cousin, her estranged husband, a prominent Bishop and various suspects. The texture of daily life in Ghana, including tribal divisions, common foods, the trials of daily electrical blackouts and the role of religion are an interesting background to a soundly written mystery. ( )

If you are an armchair traveling sleuth who loves to solve mysteries set in other countries, I recommend Kwei Quartey's Darko Dawson series. Quartey sets you down firmly on Ghanian soil and lets you immerse yourself in the land, the culture, and the food of this amazing country. The author also gives you characters with very real lives. Dawson's father has Alzheimer's and must be cared for. Dawson and his wife Christine are also dealing with a son who likes to hang out with gang members. Add a wheelchair-bound brother, a busybody mother-in-law, and the fact that Christine is a woman who speaks her mind, and it's easy to see that family life can be a bit challenging for a man who throws himself into each of his investigations.

Quartey has created a strong mystery with excellent misdirection, but he does leave some loose ends, like Dawson's new (female) partner whom I'd certainly love to know more about or the things his father began to tell him about his mother which Darko had never heard before. Is the author planting seeds for his next book? I hope so-- especially because Death by His Grace has an abrupt jaw-dropper of a cliffhanger that many readers probably aren't going to like. What did I think? I was shocked but liked the author's bravery in doing what he did. After all, this is a police procedural, not a cozy mystery. Readers should expect to be rattled from time to time. Now that I have been well and truly rattled, I can't wait to get my hands on the next Darko Dawson mystery! ( )