Darko Dawson has been promoted to Chief Inspector, but is reassigned from urban Accra in Ghana to a rural Obusai in the Ashanti region. He finds a backward police department, but is immediately dispatched to investigate the murder of a Chinese national running one of the many illegal gold mines there. Suspects are numerous, and once again Darko finds himself at odds with his bosses, the press, gold mining competitors, and even the Ministry charged with overseeing mining. Meanwhile, his family life is turned topsy-turvy as his wife needs to quit her teaching job and his sons have to change schools. To make matters worse, they decide to live in a guest house belonging to Darko's mother-in-law, which is in bad shape. Quartey does a nice job of balancing Africa's economic problems with its diverse cultures. ( )

Gold of Our Fathers is the fourth book in author Kwei Quartey’s police procedural series that is set in Ghana, Africa. In this book the main character, Detective Darko Dawson has been promoted and transferred to Obuasi, a small town that is situated near Ghana’s gold fields. The main plot revolves around the murder of a Chinese mine owner but as he follows the clues and interviews the suspects, he is also made aware that corruption and illegal exploitation are deeply embedded in the country’s mining system.

This is a very readable series with good mysteries set in a country whose culture is so very different from ours. At times I did find that the books’ pacing was off, it would slow down to a crawl and then pick up again but this is more than made up for by the setting of Ghana and the glimpses of it’s culture that the author reveals. The main character, Darko Dawson, is likeable, a family man with a good heart who submerses himself in his cases and refuses to cut corners or to compromise his ethics.

In this fourth book the characters are like old friends you are happy to catch up with. The vivid setting of Ghana, it’s culture and its people rings with a sense of authenticity as it both enlightens and entertains. I will be continuing this series with the fifth book, Death By His Grace. ( )

Number four in the "Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery" series. The author must have a significant fan base to account for a series, but not me. I read the book based on the plot summary. Using illegal gold mining in Ghana as the focus of the story was unique in my experience. However, I found the writer's style wordy and tedious. The plot turned out to be fairly unbelievable - why would limited resources be spent so willingly on such a crime (death of an illegal immigrant engaged in an illegal activity)? The author's treatment of women throughout the story was fairly sexist. A woman insulted was crucial to the plot, but the woman herself was only thinly described and not even considered a possible perpetrator of the murder. Another minor female character tells the policeman important information which is completely ignored for several chapters. The local color was interesting, but, overall, not a satisfying fiction read. ( )

As far as Dawson knows, he's going to be in this remote region of Ghana for an entire year. This means uprooting his entire family, finding a decent place to live, a new job for his wife, and a school for his two sons. The logistics were daunting and just the thought of that wore me out, but as soon as Darko's wife appeared on the scene, all that was left to her-- including the nightmarish renovation of their new home. Dawson had a murder to solve and couldn't waste time on any of this. (Typical man, eh?)

I have enjoyed this series since the very first book, Wife of the Gods. Not only do I enjoy Quartey's strong mysteries and well-delineated characters, the vivid setting of Ghana, its culture, and its people are not to be missed. In Gold of Our Fathers, Quartey brings readers right into the middle of the problem of illegal Chinese immigrants coming to Ghana to mine gold, all aided and abetted by paid-off corrupt government officials. As Dawson wonders why the government is allowing outsiders to rape his beloved country of its natural resources, readers are shown how difficult policing is in a country where bribery and corruption are rife.

Although Dawson has a recurrence of PFS (Pretty Face Syndrome) and there was a bit "too much middle" that made the pace drag a little, I still enjoyed this book a great deal. Fiction in general-- and crime fiction in particular-- does have the power to both enlighten and entertain, and Kwei Quartey is very adept at both.

I'm really looking forward to the next book in this series because Quartey surprised me. Out on his investigation, Dawson swore there was no way in the world he would step foot on something. I call that the Bank Line because you can take it to the bank that, sooner or later, Dawson is going to have to do what he swore he wouldn't. Well... he didn't, and the only thing I can think of is that the author is going to deposit that Bank Line in the next book. Bring it on! ( )