A Carrion Death--Introducing Detective Kubu

Simon Prebble gives a virtuoso performance in this first installment of what promises to be an entertaining detective series set in Botswana. David "Kubu" Benga, a Botswanan CID detective who sings operatic arias as he drives across the Kalahari, is a sure winner as a character. In this book what starts as a murder multiplies into many murders against a backdrop of greed, diamond mining, blackmail, sex, and class tension. Prebble makes all this sound plausible, as well as highly entertaining. He also sails through dialogue involving upper-crust Brits, Angolan Portuguese, Scots, Afrikaners, and Botswanans. He even does exotic bird calls. Really. The book is longer than need be, but every minute is pure, pleasurable Prebble. R.E.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 25, 2008
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.

Starred review from November 1, 2008
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 peoplee.g., businessmen, poachers, police, expatriateswho call it home. The narration by 11-time Audie Award finalist Simon Prebble is outstanding; his accents are spot on. Highly recommended. [Audio clip available through www.tantor.com; the Harper hc, published in April, made the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers list and was recommended "for readers who enjoy crime novels with African settings," "LJ" 3/1/08; expect a second series entry.Ed.]Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.