Book Club

My Sister, the Serial Killer

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Nigerian writer Oyinkan Braithwaite burst onto the crime fiction scene with this debut novel, a lively exploration of the ineffable ties between siblings, mixed with practical advice, such as “I bet you didn’t know that bleach masks the smell of blood.” While Korede busily covers…
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My Sister, the Serial Killer

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Written by Oyinkan Braithwaite — For a book about violent death and two sisters’ efforts to cover it up, this entertaining crime fiction debut from Nigerian writer Oyinkan Braithwaite is remarkably full of life. You can’t help but be charmed by the narrator Korede, who…
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Features

Interview: HJ Golakai

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Hawa Jande Golakai is a crime novelist and clinical scientist from Liberia. She featured in the prestigious Africa 39 Project via which the Hay Festival celebrated African authors under the age of 40, and she recently appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Her novel…
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The Idol of Mombasa

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Written By Annamaria Altieri — Set in 1912 in the British Protectorate of East Africa (now Kenya), The Idol of Mombasa is Alfieri’s second novel featuring Justin and Vera Tolliver. They fell in love in Alfieri’s first book, Strange Gods, and in this book are newlyweds, embarking on…
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A Death in the Family

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Written by Michael Stanley — Talk about explosive beginnings! This time it gets very personal indeed. Assistant Superintendent David Bengu in Botswana – aka Kubu, meaning hippo – is jolted out of a dream in which he’s eating. His boss, Makabu, tells him that his father has…
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Die Again by Tess Gerritsen

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The last crime novel that I read which was set in Botswana was one of the No1 Ladies Detective Agency series, written by Alexander McCall Smith and featuring the homespun wisdom of Mma Precious Ramotswe. Die Again opens in the same country but, in contrast, Tess Gerritsen’s…
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A Song from Dead Lips by William Shaw

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Crime writers are occasionally given to complaining about how technology has made life harder when it comes to plotting. Many Golden Age authors would certainly have been scuppered by mobile phones or CCTV. So, in theory, the historical crime novel should make life simpler. However,…
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