Best known for his creation of Ganesh Ghote (pronounced "Go-tay"), a Bombay policeman who is both an effective investigator and an appealing man, H. R. F. Keating has been instrumental in widening the boundaries of the mystery novel. In the forefront of those who have introduced social concerns, local color, and depiction of particular ethnic groups into the genre, he has also been a warm and supportive encourager of the talents of others and has published incisive criticism about the field of the detective story.

Born in St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, on 31 October 1926, Henry Reymond Fitzwalter Keating has claimed in Contemporary Authors (1976) that his second name was given its unusual spelling because it would look better on the spines of the books he was expected to write. His father, John Hervey Keating, a schoolmaster, and mother, Muriel Marguerita Clews Keating, both came from bookish families, but their son, always...