Unequal society, where a few who are close to the corridors of power pocket national wealth and flagrantly display ill-gotten affluence, drives a youth to unbridled quest for a "piece of the action". Trapped in poverty, Chigazu ultimately ends up in self destruction, adding to the ever-fl owing tears of his mother, Nkiru, whose moral standard fuelled rather than abated the situation. The Detective Python is an intriguing and suspense-laden story of vices and tragedies in a contemporary African society where corruption in high and low places breeds crimes and violent deaths.