Inspector Ghote is summoned by the Deputy Superintendent of Police and charged with what at first seems to be a fool's errand: To prevent the shooting of a red flamingo in Bombay Zoo, the last of four birds presented by the American consul.

Ghote is summoned by the Deputy Superintendent of Police and charged to protect a flamingo presented to Bombay Zoological Gardens by the American Consulate.

Ghote's investigation is interrupted by a phone call from Mister Ram Kundah, deputy to the Minister for Police Affairs and the Arts.

Here Ghote first hears of the guru who intends to attempt to walk on water and finds a complaint from Professor Rustom Engineer.

Here Ghote meets Jack Cooper, an English alcoholic follower of horse racing, and "Bunny" Bender, who has inherited the title of Raja but appears to have only modest financial means.

Only when Ghote finds Desai does he learn that the objection to "Cream of the Jest" was overturned and that he has indeed won enough money for a good air-conditioner.

Later Ghote calls the office and orders Desai to ask Rustom Engineer if the Raja had left the rifle at the professor's home.

Later, Ghote receives a telephone call telling him that the Raja, "Bunny" Bender, has been shot dead at his summer home.

Bedekar confirms that at the time his horse was replaced by a donkey, costing him a winning place in the derby, he would have killed the person responsible.

The interview ends when Sergeant Desai is caught attempting to obtain inside information for gambling on horse races.

The interview proves difficult and Rustom admits being deeply affected by joke that was played on him, but claims to have spent the evening of the murder at home with his brother.

After the interview with Rustom Engineer, Ghote receives a telephone call that informs him that Lal Das has been arrested by Inspector Gadgil.

Lal Das was found occupying the garden shed of the late Raja "Bunny" Bender's summer home.

Ghote is told by Lal Das that the street urchins tormented him until he was forced to leave the spot where he meditated.

Cooper tries to wheedle Ghote into having him released and in the process mentions that Bedekar had "Bunny" Bender investigated by a private detective.

Ghote revisits Bedekar who claims that before the Raja was shot he discovered one of his racehorses was of good enough quality to win the next derby, which means he has no motive for the murder.

Ghote returns to the police station and catches Sergeant Desai playing cards with a joker in the pack.

In the first part the mystery is centred on the identity of the person playing practical jokes on well-respected members of Mumbai society.

Halfway through the story he plays a joke on his young son that misfires, which suggests that while he has a sense of humour it is underdeveloped.

By the end of the story Ghote is able to share a conspiratorial wink with his superior at the news that his inept sergeant is to become a security guard in the ministry where the murderer worked.

[1] Harry Keating's Inspector Ghote novels, set in Bombay, India, present a unique challenge to a narrator: to read Indian dialect with respect and accuracy.

Narrator Sam Dastor, a Shakespearean actor whose audiobook credits include works by Kipling, Forster, and Naipaul, meets the challenge in this police adventure.

After the killing of valuable flamingos at the Bombay Zoo and the substitution of a prize race horse with a donkey, Inspector Ghote and his hapless sergeant are called on to stop the heartless practical joker--until murder turns up a full house.