The police are anxious to close a case as the suicide of an American art collector at the most opulent hotel in Mumbai, but the Inspector in charge has his doubts, so he calls in his old colleague, Inspector Chopra (Retd), to investigate. Soon enough, Chopra is embroiled in the highly contentious art collecting world, including a young beautiful promoter who makes him quite uncomfortable, a prickly art critic, an extremely well-known artist and more - and all of them are hiding secrets that may explain what happened. In the meantime, Chopra’s wife Poppy is unhappy that he seems to be ignoring their upcoming 25th wedding anniversary, so she decides to go to him at his worksite at the hotel, where she becomes embroiled in another prickly case, that of the disappearance of a reluctant princess bride….I read a review of an earlier book in this series wherein the reviewer coined (I think) the term “cozy noir” to describe the way that this series is generally quite gentle and funny, but with scenes of extreme violence interspersed. I thought it a great term, but one that does not really apply to this particular entry - yes, there is a scene of great violence, but it is in the past and therefore to my mind not quite noirish. That said, we also have a monkey movie star who has a hatred of elephants, young Irfan getting up to mischief with baby elephant Ganesha, and a great deal of royalty in disarray; recommended! ( )

Definitely the best so far: Inspector Chopra is called in by a former colleague to investigate a murder which his superiors have deemed a suicide in order to bypass any work that might be involved.

The murdered man has a secret/hidden past in India and has returned in order to purchase a painting of historical & cultural importance to India.

At the same time, Chopra's wife, Poppy (much to his consternation), has checked in to be with Chopra on their 25th wedding anniversary and has become involved with the search for a missing (run-away) bride of Indian Royalty.

The narratives were thankfully shorter & less often... but the scene of Baby Ganesh tracking down the missing bride with a huge crowd of nosey people following him was over-done. ( )

This series is such a delight. A bit of a fantastical element, because after all, former police detective, now investigator Inspector Chopra is followed much of the time by a gamboling baby elephant named Ganesha. A high stakes art auction has taken place at the venerable Grand Raj Palace Hotel in Mumbai. Chopra is called when a billionaire bidder (and winner) is found dead in his room. I really enjoyed the interesting bits about the art world, and whether or not art should be leaving its' country of origin. Another wonderful piece of this book is the family created by Chopra, his wife Poppy, the elephant and a small boy named Irfan who helps care for Ganesha in the courtyard of their restaurant. Poppy comes into her own in this story too. Not content to wait for Chopra to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, she books a room at the Grand Raj to be nearby and becomes embroiled in a missing bride side story. ( )

When this series began with The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, I wasn't entirely sure which direction it would take. There was a supernatural element that really didn't fit well with the rest of the story. However, with each new book, this series has gotten stronger and stronger, and now I have to get my hands on each new installment as quickly as possible. I first began reading because I was desperately missing my Vish Puri fix-- the superb series written by Tarquin Hall. Now I still miss Vish Puri, but I've found that Ashwin Chopra does not stand in the shadow of the wily investigator from New Delhi. Not at all.

Khan always includes interesting bits of Mumbai history in his books, and Murder at the Grand Raj Palace is no exception. There are several things going on at this opulent hotel, and one of the most important involves Chopra's wife, Poppy, who wants their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary to be very special. There's only one problem: her husband refuses to cooperate, so she finds herself drawn into the mystery of a young woman who's run away from an arranged marriage. This runaway bride subplot is the weaker of the two, but I cut Poppy some slack because it's her first real investigation-- and it provides some fantastic laugh-out-loud comic relief.

The major investigation concerning the billionaire is as twisty-turny as any crime fiction lover can want, and it really kept me guessing. To this first-rate mystery, readers can then add uproarious scenes of a baby elephant tracking someone through the hotel, and characters like Big Mother (Shubnam Tejwa Parwardhan, former maharani of Tejwa, and her Panzer-like wheelchair). Murder at the Grand Raj Palace is a wonderful puzzle for the mind and the perfect balm for the spirit. If you haven't tried the series yet, I urge you to do so. Begin at the beginning with The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra because these characters do grow and change. Now... follow that elephant! ( )