The late Mrs. Shoba Popatkar was a beloved national figure, known throughout the subcontinent for her lifelong commitment to virtuous causes. But now her life has been brutally snuffed out, and the killer comes from a most unlikely place: the holy city of Banares where the waters of the Ganges hourly welcome thousands for the ultimate pilgrimage.Inspector Ghote, sent from Bombay to Banares to investigate the peculiar circumstances surrounding her murder, feels only too keenly the official pressure to come up with a simple solution. Can he manage to satisfy both his superiors and his own need to discover the whole truth? Certainly, there are frustrating obstacles blocking his path as he doggedly makes his way through the throngs of the city's narrow lanes seeking the killer, not the least of which are the uncooperative local police officials.Politely tenacious as ever, Ghote meets and discards a variety of possible suspects, concentrating finally on a wily cat-and-mouse game with the real culprit. Read Less