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Overview
Smashed skull, snapped ribs, and a cloying smell of carrion. Leave the body for the hyenas to devour—no body, no case.
But Kalahari game rangers stumble on the human corpse mid-meal. The murder wasn't perfect after all. Enter Detective David "Kubu" Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department, an investigator whose personality and physique match his moniker, the Setswana word for hippopotamus—which is a seemingly docile beast, but one of the deadliest, and most persistent, on the continent.
Beneath a mountain of lies and superstitions, Kubu uncovers a chain of crimes leading to the most powerful figures in the country—cold-bloodedly efficient and frighteningly influential enemies who can make anyone who gets in their way disappear.
Synopsis
In A Carrion Death, a memorable new detective makes his debut in a gritty and evocative new series set amid the beauty and darkness of contemporary Africa.
The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio
…a first novel saturated with local color…Kubu is…hugely appealing—big and solid and smart enough to grasp all angles of this mystery. Readers may be lured to Africa by the landscape, but it takes a great character like Kubu to win our loyalty.
Editorials
Boston Globe
"More smart than bloody. . . . A marvelous debut."New York Times Book Review
"A first novel saturated with local color. . . . Readers may be lured to Africa by the landscape, but it takes a great character like Kubu to win our loyalty."Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Delightful. . . . Plot twists are fair and well-paced, the Botswana setting has room to breathe and take shape as its own entity, and Stanley’s writing style is equal parts sprightly and grave."Boston Globe
“More smart than bloody. . . . A marvelous debut.”New York Times Book Review
“A first novel saturated with local color. . . . Readers may be lured to Africa by the landscape, but it takes a great character like Kubu to win our loyalty.”Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Delightful. . . . Plot twists are fair and well-paced, the Botswana setting has room to breathe and take shape as its own entity, and Stanley’s writing style is equal parts sprightly and grave.”Marilyn Stasio
…a first novel saturated with local color…Kubu is…hugely appealing—big and solid and smart enough to grasp all angles of this mystery. Readers may be lured to Africa by the landscape, but it takes a great character like Kubu to win our loyalty.—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
This impressive debut from Stanley, the South African writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, introduces overweight assistant superintendent David Bengu of the Botswana Police Department, whose nickname is, fittingly, Kubu (Setswanan for hippopotamus). In investigating the case of a partially consumed human body found in a remote area of a game reserve, Kubu keeps running across tangential links to Botswana Cattle and Mining, the country's largest company. As more people connected to the case turn up dead, Kubu realizes that multiple murder may be just the byproduct of a much more heinous crime. The intricate plotting, a grisly sense of realism and numerous topical motifs (the plight of the Kalahari Bushmen, diamond smuggling, poaching, the homogenization of African culture, etc.) make this a compulsively readable novel. Despite a shared setting with Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, this fast-paced forensic thriller will resonate more with fans of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
Readers and listeners will welcome the arrival of Assistant Superintendent David "Kubu" Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department into the mystery/thriller genre. Writing under the pseudonym of Michael Stanley, authors Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip offer a glimpse into the world of sub-Saharan Africa and the various types of people-e.g., businessmen, poachers, police, expatriates-who call it home. The narration by 11-time AudieA Award finalist Simon Prebble is outstanding; his accents are spot on. Highly recommended. [Audio clip available through
—Scott R. DiMarco
School Library Journal
A skeleton is found in the Kalahari Desert in modern-day Africa. It is unclothed, one of its arms is missing, and its teeth have been knocked out, making identification difficult. It falls to Det. David Bengu (aka Kubu) of the Botswana police to figure out what happened; in the meantime, more deaths follow. This well-plotted debut introduces a new mystery series and will enthrall readers, who should be aware that the author's detailing of the cultural and social background of the Botswana people shares equal footing with the solving of the murders. Stanley is the writing duo of South Africans Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, who have shared adventures in the Kalahari. For readers who enjoy crime novels with African settings, such as those by Richard Kunzmann and Deon Meyer.
—Jo Ann Vicarel Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information