Detective Kubu’s world is shattered when his father is violently murdered. Defying orders, he sets off on the killers’ trail … with shocking consequences…
‘This fifth mystery featuring Detective Kubu is another fast-moving procedural notable for its warm characterizations and vivid sense of place. A natural for fans of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency' Booklist
‘A wonderful, original voice — McCall Smith with a dark edge and even darker underbelly’ Peter James
'Impossible to put down. Kubu’s painstaking detecting skills make him a sort of Hercule Poirot of the desert … This series can be recommended to a wide gamut of readers’ Library Journal
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'There's no easy way to say this, Kubu. Your father's dead. I'm afraid he's been murdered.’
Faced with the violent death of his own father, even Assistant Superintendent David ‘Kubu’ Bengu, Botswana CID's keenest mind, is baffled. Who would kill such a frail old man? The picture becomes even murkier with the apparent suicide of a government official. Are Chinese mine-owners involved? And what role does the US Embassy have to play?
When grief-stricken Kubu defies orders and sets out on the killers’ trail, startling and chilling links emerge, spanning the globe and setting a sequence of shocking events in motion. Will Kubu catch the killers in time … and find justice for his father?
Set amidst the dark beauty of modern Botswana, A Death in the Family is a thrilling insight into a world of riots, corruption and greed, as a complex series of murders present the opera-loving, wine connoisseur detective with his most challenging — and personal — case yet.
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‘The perfect combination of “I don’t want it to end” and “I can’t put it down”. Great African crime fiction’ Deon Meyer
‘My favourite writing duo since Ellery Queen’ Ragnar Jónasson
‘Bengu is a wonderful creation, complex and beguiling. The exotic smells and sounds of Botswana fill the pages as well as the changes and struggles of a country brimming with modern technology yet fiercely clinging to old traditions. Compelling and deceptively written…’ New York Journal of Books
‘Richly atmospheric … a gritty depiction of corruption and deception’ Publishers Weekly
‘Under the African sun, Michael Stanley’s Detective Kubu investigates crimes as dark as the darkest of Nordic Noir. Call it Sunshine Noir, if you will — a must read’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
