It is the early 1960s and Inspector Ghote is on leave from the Bombay police before taking up a post in crime branch.

The former police commissioner, now retired, Sir Rustom Engineer, requests that as a favour Ghote investigate the motiveless suicide of Iris Dawkins.

Ghote arrives at the remote town where the tragedy occurred and finds that Iris Dawkins apparently committed suicide by shooting herself in the head with a shotgun without leaving a note.

Afterwards the Dawkinses' man servant telephoned Mr Dawkins at the nearby golf club and asked him to return home as there had been a "nasty accident".

From Pansy Watson, Ghote learns that Iris Dawkins was the daughter of Sir Ronald and Lady Mountford.

Iris Dawkins was then sent home to England, where she was cared for by poor relations of her own family and adopted their name, Petersham.

Ghote learns that Iris Dawkins was left-handed and that her left eye had a green fleck from a picture taken by a local photographer.

Afterwards, Ghote resolves to ask Inspector Darrani about the young man who was seen visiting Mrs Dawkins on the morning of her death.

Carefully considering the case, Ghote comes to the conclusion that the young man who visited Mrs Dawkins was in fact her long-lost son whom she would have immediately recognised from the green flecks in one eye, a genetic trait inherited from her.

Before Ghote can act on his conclusions, an urgent message comes for him telling him his wife, Protima, is about to give premature birth.

The manservant confirms this and explains he was looking for a fragment of a letter written by the Maharaja to Iris Dawkins, which her son had dropped before fleeing the scene.

The manservant also confirms that Inspector Darrani had quickly discovered that Iris Dawkins's long-lost son had visited her.

In hope of securing a large reward from the Maharaja, Inspector Darrani has concealed the young man's whereabouts and attempted close the books on Mrs Dawkins death quickly, with the minimum of investigation.

Ghote telephones Inspector Darrani and forces him to come to the house to arrest the manservant as an accessory after the fact.

Robert Dawkins: A British civil servant who remained in India after independence and his own retirement, believing he would have a better quality of life.

He is an old friend of Sir Rustum Engineer and Peter Watson, through whom he met future wife Iris Petersham.

To a lesser extent, Ghote's characteristic inability to make a decision is paralleled by Hamlet, which is referred to several times in the novel.