Inspector Ghote, 'one of the great creations of detective fiction' (Alexander McCall Smith), is assigned his most baffling case yet: preventing the murder . . . of a flamingo,in this classic mystery- with a brand-new introduction by bestselling author Vaseem Khan. Inspector Ganesh Ghote of the Bombay CID is taken aback when his boss, the rage-prone Deputy Superintendent Naik, cheerfully summons him with an unusual order: to stop a murder. But his boss's good mood turns out to be the least bizarre thing about the situation. For the potential murder victim is an expensive flamingo - a gift from the US Consul - and if Ghote doesn't prevent it meeting the same tragic end as its three companions, it could result in serious embarrassment for the government. Saddled with the most incompetent sergeant in the history of policing, Ghote investigates with his usual thoroughness, and soon suspects the flamingo-slaying is linked to a whole series of elaborate, unkind pranks. Who would do such a thing, and why? The hard-working inspector doesn't get the joke. But when the case takes a darker turn, all thoughts of humour are forgotten . . .

H. R. F. Keating, known as Harry to his family and friends, was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, in 1926. He was educated at Merchant Taylors School in London and Trinity College, Dublin, before training as a journalist. As well as publishing over sixty books in his lifetime, Keating was the crime fiction reviewer forThe Times for fifteen years and held many prestigious roles, including Chairman of the Society of Authors and President of the Detection Club. Keating's first novel about Inspector Ghote,The Perfect Murder, won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers Association and an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award, and was later made into a film by Merchant Ivory. He subsequently won many more awards, including the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger for outstanding services to crime literature. He lived in London with his wife, the actor Sheila Mitchell, until his death in 2011, aged eighty-four.