South African crime fiction

Leo by Deon Meyer

6 March, 2025

Translated by KL Seegers — Six months ago, detectives Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido were demoted from their posts as part of Cape Town’s elite crime-fighters, The Hawks, after an incident with the corrupt State Security Agency. Reassigned to Stellenbosch, a university town about 30…

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The Eye of the Beholder by Margie Orford

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

10 August, 2022

Throughout her career, South African crime author and journalist Margie Orford has dealt extensively with the way trauma manifests itself in countries with a turbulent political history such as South Africa and Namibia. She’s particularly interested in how it permeates the social structure, often culminating…

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The Dark Flood by Deon Meyer

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

14 April, 2022

Translated by KL Seegers — The infamous police detective and recovering alcoholic, Benny Griessel, is back in South African author Deon Meyer’s 14th crime novel. This time the setting is Meyer’s home town, Stellenbosch, and real life events and fiction merge into a compelling, rip-roaring…

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The Strangers of Braamfontein by Onyeka Nwelue

By Paul Burke

22 September, 2021

The Strangers of Braamfontein is one of those crime novels that hits you in the gut and before you can recover another powerful blow is delivered. It’s a story of corruption, gangland violence, sex trafficking, modern slavery and murder. All of this is seen from…

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Young Blood by Sifiso Mzobe

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

14 June, 2021

Although South African crime writing has mostly been dominated by white writers, a new generation of black writers is emerging and they’re changing the landscape of South African crime fiction with their fresh perspective. One of them is Sifiso Mzobe, a journalist from Umlazi whose…

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Facets of Death by Michael Stanley

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

3 March, 2021

Have you met Detective David ‘Kubu’ Bhengu? You haven’t? Well, you are in luck, because Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip decided to write a prequel to their six-novel series featuring Kubu and Facets of Death is exactly where his story starts. The first thing you…

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Three Bodies by NR Brodie

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

7 September, 2020

Knucklebone, the first in the crime thriller series featuring detectives Reshma Patel and Ian Jack, was praised for its uniquely South African flavour and original writing. Three Bodies again proves that Nechama ‘NR’ Brodie is an up-and-coming crime writer to be reckoned with. Even though…

Features

Interview: Sally Andrew

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

16 October, 2019

At the foot of South Africa’s Swartberg Mountains lies Ladismith. This remote little Klein Karoo town is the home of South African crime writer Sally Andrew as well as her inimitable main character, Tannie Maria van Harten. Tannie is Africa’s most famous crime-busting agony aunt,…

Crime Fiction Lover

Leo by Deon Meyer

The Eye of the Beholder by Margie Orford

The Dark Flood by Deon Meyer

The Strangers of Braamfontein by Onyeka Nwelue

Young Blood by Sifiso Mzobe

Facets of Death by Michael Stanley

Three Bodies by NR Brodie

Interview: Sally Andrew

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