The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra

Series: A Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation, Book 1

By: Vaseem Khan / Narrated By: Sartaj Garewal

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Oh what a charming start to a series! Now? When to listen to Book Twoooooo…!!!

Oh.

My.

GOSH!!!

It’s like this, see… I listened to The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra hoping for a light and quirky story, a nice little cozy(ish) Mystery. And I liked it well enough, especially enjoyed the characters, and dude! there’s an elephant in it! ‘Nuff said, right?

But as the story progressed, I started getting twitchy about the development of the mystery elements, and I began wondering if this was author Vaseem Khan’s debut. Cuz you see, I’m gonna go all Hoity-Toity on ya and point out a beguiling little sneer that was on m’ face here and there as I pondered the crafting: I’m No Longer A Newbie whenst it comes to listening to Mysteries, so I started getting a wee bit sneer(ish) about some newbie mistakes. Or what I deemed to be such.

The Villain corners our Hero, Inspector Chopra, and Spills His GUTS about Why and When and HOW he committed all his vile acts? Check. And Done. A few Saved Right On Times? By something absoLUTEly hard to believe? Check. And Done. Like, SEVERAL times.

So I was definitely vastly entertained cuz this reads like BUTTER, all flow and quirky cleverness, but I was internally dinging it a bit.

And then?

Big Sis and I discussed it, and she LOVED it -AND- cued me in on just what-all is meant in the Epilogue. Now, uuuuuusually, the Epilogue is just a wrap-up and something like, A Bit O’ Time Later, tralala lala. This one? Oh! My! GOSH!!!

It’s to die for, and I canNOT spoil it for you, but p’raps I CAN say, it explains EVERYTHING, reframes EVERYTHING, smooths out what I perceived to be Newbie-isms, and it recasts EVERYTHING in Genius, Absolute GENIUS Light!

It all begins when a drowned young man’s body has been left at the Police Station on the very last day of work for Chopra as Inspector. A bad ticker has caused early retirement, and he’s contemplating all the cases that will no longer be part of his life. This drowning, however, is unsettling to him. The man would’ve had to drown in weeeee bits o’ water as the Monsoons are late. But he really has no more say in the matter. Case, ‘twould appear, Closed.

Chopra can’t get it off his mind. And that, along with a retirement gift of a very very special, and exceeeeeeedingly depressed baby elephant makes for a bumpy road ahead. Chopra canNOT be anything but a piecer together of clues, and he goes on stakeouts, hits clubs and takes on hookers in bars to get information, and he calls in a few favors. This whole time, he’s surrounded by his fuming wife who’d thought they’d be together, and here he is, coming home later, obviously up to something he’s not sharing. And she’s worries of her own.

There’s a lot that is eye-opening about Indian culture and society, all very interesting.

But the characters are the real standouts of this charming, fun, good-hearted story. Quirky? You betcha!

Sartaj Garewal narrates this BRILLIANTLY with every character finely distinguished without too much vocal juggling. There’s one scene where Chopra runs into an obnoxious acquaintance who laughs like a donkey and Garewal does the perfect braying guffaw. Perfection. This is one of the smooooooothest performances, and it’s one of the smooooooothest productions EVER. It’s seamless, no tinny sounding recording studio, just awesome to listen to. Bravo, Sir! BRAVO!

Just such a pleasure to listen to, and seriously! Listen closely during that Epilogue. It’s…

GENIUS!!!

Soon To The NEXT One!!!

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