H.R.F. Keating, Post-Colonial Detection

In Keating s novels, set in India, the bumbling, but always human, Inspector Ghote manages to solve crimes with a post-colonial mix of inherited Scotland Yard/Holmesian deductive methods and his understanding of his native country s culture. This book is based on the premise that successful sleuths have much in common with cultural anthropologists indeed the latter have often been termed detectives of cultures. Keating s Ghote novels are in the tradition of Tony Hillerman s Navajo Indian mysteries, and James McClure s South African novels, which serve up the human, experiential aspects of the cultural and ethnic conflicts that newspapers miss."