White Man's Grave

by Richard Dooling

When Peace Corps volunteer Michael Killigan goes missing in West Africa, his father Randall and his best friend Boone Westfall begin separate quests to find him. Randall, a bankruptcy lawyer, is the warlord of his world, a shark in a fishbowl, exercising power with mad, relentless, hilarious glee; Boone, an American innocent abroad, journeys to the African bush, protected by the twin charms of the passport and the almighty dollar. In seeking Michael, both men find much more than they bargain for.

Witches and witch-finders, bush devils, shape-shifters, village chiefs and politicians, judges and attorneys, and medicine men from American and African cultures populate this original, ferociously funny novel by a satirist of the first order.

Genres: Fiction, Africa, Mystery, Literature, Book Club, Travel, Novels

464 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Richard Dooling's first novel, Critical Care, became a film directed by Sidney Lumet, starring James Spader and Helen Mirren. His second novel, White Man's Grave, was a finalist for the 1994 National Book Award. Brain Storm and Bet Your Life were both New York Times Notable Books of the Year.

His nonfiction includes Blue Streak, on swearing and free speech, and Rapture for the Geeks: When AI Outsmarts IQ.

His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. In 2003–2004, he helped write and produce Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital for ABC.

His latest books are Send the Dead, a novella and four stories, and The Acolyte, a novel (June 2026).

After college, Dooling worked as a respiratory therapist in intensive care units and spent a year traveling in West Africa — experiences that informed his first two novels. He practiced law in St. Louis and now lives in Montana with his wife, Kristy.

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