THERE'S BEEN A KIDNAPPING . . . JUST NOT THE RIGHT ONE. Some crooks have tried to snatch the plump son of a business tycoon, and have accidentally made off with his playmate instead. But they're not changing their plan- a payment is to be delivered to them or a small corpse is to be delivered to Inspector Ghote. But what kind of ransom can a mere tailor's boy demand? And, as something more unpleasant than just a ransom note arrives from the kidnappers, are the police really helping keep the boy in one piece? 'THE MOST ENDEARING OF DETECTIVES . . . I DON'T SEE HOW ANYONE COULD RESIST THE BOOK'S APPEAL' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Author Biography

H. R. F. Keating was born at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, in 1926. He went to Merchant Taylors, leaving early to work in the engineering department of the BBC. After a period of service in the army, which he describes as 'totally undistinguished', he went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he became a scholar in modern languages. He was also the crime books reviewer for The Times for fifteen years. His first novel about Inspector Ghote, The Perfect Murder, won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers Association and an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award. He lives in London with his wife, the actress Sheila Mitchell, and has three sons and a daughter. Alexander McCall Smith is an internationally bestselling Scottish writer, most widely known as the creator of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of novels.