The Witch Doctor's Wife

Starred review from September 28, 2009
Myers draws on her own experiences as the daughter of white missionaries living in the Belgian Congo for this dazzling novel full of authentic African lore. In 1958, Amanda Brown and her fellow passengers suffer only minor injuries when the plane bringing them to the diamond mining community of Belle Vue makes a crash landing. The 23-year-old South Carolina native, who's spent six months in Belgium studying French and the Congolese language of Tshiluba, has come to Belle Vue to run a missionary guesthouse, where she soon employs one of a local witch doctor's two wives, the delightful, no-nonsense Cripple. The discovery of a huge uncut diamond sets off a chain of unfortunate events leading to Cripple's being charged with murder. This marks a major breakthrough for Myers as she displays storytelling skills not recently seen in the claustrophobic confines of her Pennsylvania-Dutch (Batter Off Dead
) and Den of Antiquity (Poison Ivory
) mystery series.

April 15, 2010
A tale of wildly clashing cultures in the Belgian Congo.

American missionary Amanda Brown arrives in 1958, eager to save souls. Her plane crashes on arrival, but she survives and is rescued by a mysterious Nigerian. The small town of Belle Vue is the center of a diamond-mining region. Even the least significant Europeans live quite well, while the natives on the other side of the river struggle for existence. When the witch doctor, Their Death, finds his second wife's youngest child sucking on an enormous uncut diamond, his efforts to turn the stone into a better life for his family unleash a chain of disasters. His first wife, the clever Cripple, replaces the stone with glass; the white man approached by Their Death for help becomes embroiled in endless plots with his male lover and the local head of the mining consortium. Amanda hires Cripple to work with her surly housekeeper and becomes fond of the witch doctor's (first) wife, although neither fully understands the other's very different lifestyle. Amanda, who has made no friends among the Europeans, defends Cripple when she falsely confesses to murdering a white man. The author's personal experience as a child brought up by missionaries in the Congo lends authenticity to every word.

A radical but welcome departure for Myers (As the World Churns, 2008, etc.). Fans of Alexander McCall Smith may well find Cripple as delightful as Precious Ramotswe.

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November 15, 2009
A prim missionary, a sleazy executive, and a humble witch doctor are all players in Myers captivating debut set in the Congo in the 1950s. As the novel opens, young South Carolina missionary Amanda Brown weathers a rocky flight en route to her new post as manager of a missionary guesthouse in tiny Belle Vue. It is a harbinger of the challenges that await her. Though small and primitive, Belle Vue is populated by many larger-than-life personalities, from Amandas cranky housekeeper (with the wonderfully odd name, Protruding Navel) to the local witch doctors wife, whose limp leads people to underestimate herat their peril. The discovery of a large uncut diamond draws out the sinister side of Belle Vues inhabitants, and Amanda soon finds herself caught up in the chaos. Myers, author of the Den of Antiquity and Pennsylvania Dutch mysteries, was born and raised in the Congo, and she writes vividly about her childhood home. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith are sure to relish this opportunity to learn about another intriguing area of Africa.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)