Tongue-in-cheek short stories that send up imperial myths. In the title story, Inspector Dreadlock Holmes and his sidekick Rudeyard Fly
are sent for by the Criminal Investigation Department of Middleham-by-Sea –
a little town known for tea shops, pet shops, florist shops. Keen to kickstart their diversity policy, the
Department sends for two black law enforcers who both think this an
opportunity too good to miss: a chance to prove their cross-cultural mettle and
elucidate the death of Lord Montagu, a controversial political figure possibly
killed by a deadly vegetable. In other stories, an Anansi spider stows away on the Windrush, cod and chips
are usurped by chicken tikka marsala, and a white landscape gardener who
admires Capability Brown has a mixed race child who is
dispossessed by voices from history, including that of Martin Luther King. Surreal and playful, John Agard’s stories also reveal hidden truths that subtly
change our view of how we are and where we come from.