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    A Death in the Family
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    A Death in the Family
    Unavailable
    A Death in the Family
    Ebook414 pages6 hours

    A Death in the Family

    By Michael Stanley

    5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    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

    _______________

    '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.

    _______________

    ‘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

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherORENDA BOOKS
    Release dateOct 28, 2015
    ISBN9781910633205
    Unavailable
    A Death in the Family
    Author

    Michael Stanley

    Michael Stanley is the writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Sears was born in Johannesburg, grew up in Cape Town and Nairobi, and teaches at the University of the Witwatersrand. Trollip was also born in Johannesburg and has been on the faculty of the universities of Illinois, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and at Capella University. He divides his time between Knysna, South Africa, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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    Reviews for A Death in the Family

    5/5

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    • 5/5
      I am a long-standing fan of this series. Published in 2015, this is #5.His father Wilmon is a much loved member of Kubu's family and a kindly character who has featured in earlier titles. His murder comes as a great shock and it is hard to imagine why it has happened. Are the families of the police being targeted or is there a more local motive?Kubu of course wants to be involved in the investigation and his boss has a hard job of keeping him out of it. Fortunately there are other matters that Kubu can be involved in. But his frustration at the assignment of his father's murder to a less experienced female detective is well depicted, especially as time passes and so little progress is made.I enjoyed the way the various threads of this story were woven together with elements of Botswana politics and economics, particularly with Botswana struggling to find its place in the modern world.The view presented of Botswana is different to the one with Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series which I also enjoy. I was delighted to find references to that series in A DEATH IN THE FAMILY.A delightful read.
    • 5/5
      In some ways, A Death in the Family is a departure for this wonderful series. Having read all the books with tremendous enjoyment, I know that Kubu has always had a close and loving relationship with his parents. Wilmon Bengu's death is catastrophic for Kubu. Kubu has been in many tight situations, but readers have never seen him grief-stricken or enraged. He comes within a whisker of throwing his entire career away. He scarcely eats throughout the book, and Kubu is a man who has always been passionate about his food. His impatience, his frustration, his grief are felt throughout the book like a steady but subtle vibration in the air. Kubu's frame of mind will make readers turn the pages faster and faster in order to unmask the killer.The investigation in A Death in the Family is a very complex one with many threads, and it was fascinating to watch those threads being pulled out, examined, and woven into a satisfying conclusion. The facts the writing team of Michael Stanley includes in the story are fascinating. Yes, we learn more about the inner workings of the Botswana government, but it's Wilmon's struggles with Alzheimer's and this country's funeral traditions and those of kgotle (a structured and rather familial type of town meeting) that add so much texture and richness to the book.Is an angry Kubu as readable as a funny Kubu? Most definitely! If you love Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books, are you going to like Michael Stanley's Detective Kubu? Chances are very good that you will. To be honest, I prefer Kubu to Precious Ramotswe-- there's a bit less charm and more bite to the stories of Michael Stanley. You can step in just about anywhere in these books, but Kubu's life isn't an unchanging one. Start at the beginning with A Carrion Death so you won't miss one little bit of my favorite-- and the best-- detective in Botswana. The entire series is excellent.