The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

I've spun my geographical wheel for the December Group reads and it's fallen on Africa. So for December, our Around the World Challenge will be mysteries/ thrillers/ Spy novels set in the sub-continent, Africa.

I don't have a great many examples for you from my bookshelf, but I'm sure that others can provide lists. Here are a few authors I've tried or hope to try, as examples -

1. Jassy Mackenzie
2. Alexander McCall Smith
3. James McClure
4. Malla Nunn
5. Kwei Quartey
6. Emma Ruby-Sachs etc

Don't these names limit you, there are many others. It was provided to give you some ideas and to whet your appetite for books set in the region.

The usual rules apply:
1. don't nominate your own book
2. if you nominate a book and it wins the poll vote, you are de facto discussion leader
3. please don't nominate a book we've read in the last 3 to 4 years (if you're not sure, I've added the link to the group's bookshelf).

https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

I look forward to seeing what's nominated. (I will be out of town for a few days so if I don't check in regularly, you'll know why)

This is the thread where I will keep track of nominations.

1. The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett (nominated by Tom)
2. Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer (nominated by Shannon M)
3. Whitefly by Abdelilah Hamdouchi (nominated by Carolien)
4. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey (nominated by Badria)
5. Death in Kenya by M.M. Kaye (nominated by Hannah)
6. Sahara by Clive Cussler (nominated by Patrick)
7. The Second Death Of Goodluck Tinubu by Michael Stanley (nominated by Suzy)
8. The Dark of the Sun by Wilbur Smith (nominated by James)
9. The Steam Pig by James McClure (nominated by Bill)

I nominate The Key to Rebecca, by Ken Follett

I nominate Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer, or anything by Deon Meyer.

I'll go with Whitefly.

To add to Bill's list of possible authors:
Michael Stanley (Botswana)
Sally Andrew (as close to cozy as South Africa gets)
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ (Kenya)
Femi Kayode (Nigeria)
Ian Patrick (South Africa)
Annamaria Alfieri (historical fiction mysteries set in Kenya)
Leye Adenle (Nigeria)
Margie Orford (South Africa)
Mike Nicol (South Africa)
H.J. Golakai (Liberian author, set in South Africa)
Karin Brynard (South Africa)
Sarah Lotz (she tends to horror, but has some crime/mystery novels)
Martin Steyn (at least one of his books has been translated and is very good)

Bill wrote: "This is the thread where I will keep track of nominations.

1. I nominate
Wife of the Gods: A Novel (A Darko Dawson Mystery) Paperback by Kwei Quartey
2.
3.
4.
5."

Death in Kenya by M. M. Kaye

Sahara by Clive Cussler....incredible, informative, thrilling and sometimes chilling.. All the way from Abraham Lincoln to Amelia Earhardt all in the Sahara.....right? Yes!

I nominate A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
also The Cousins andWe Were Liars

Zainab wrote: "I vote the silent patient by alex michalides"

That is such a thrilling novel but it's not set in Africa, Zainab =)

Zainab wrote: "I vote the silent patient by alex michalides"

Is this set in Africa, Zainab?

Nike wrote: "Zainab wrote: "I vote the silent patient by alex michalides"

That is such a thrilling novel but it's not set in Africa, Zainab =)"

That answers that question. Thanks, Nike.

Carolien wrote: "I'll go with Whitefly.

To add to Bill's list of possible authors:
Michael Stanley (Botswana)
Sally Andrew (as close to cozy as South Africa gets)
[..."

Thank you.

Eva wrote: "I nominate A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
also The Cousins andWe Were Liars"

You can only nominate one book Eva and are any of these mysteries set in Africa? They didn't seem to be...

Remember folks if you do nominate a book and it's selected, you are requested to moderate the book discussions afterwards. Thanks.

I'll nominate The Second Death Of Goodluck Tinubu, the 2nd in the Detective Kubu series set in Botswana. It's a better book than the first and I think will work well without having read the first.

(Bill, I appreciate the email about the nominations being open! I missed out last month cuz don't always remember they open on the first.)

I nominate The Dark of the Sun by Wilbur Smith.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

I'd love to see a book in this category that is written by someone of African descent not someone setting a book in Africa (Follett, Cussler, and Kaye fall in this category).

I'll nominate A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley which introduces Detective David "Kubu" Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department, an investigator whose personality and physique match his moniker, the Setswana word for hippopotamus—which is a seemingly docile beast, but one of the deadliest, and most persistent, on the continent.

It sounds interesting

Suzy wrote: "I'll nominate The Second Death Of Goodluck Tinubu, the 2nd in the Detective Kubu series set in Botswana. It's a better book than the first and I think will work well without having r..."

I'm glad you got the email.

CBRetriever wrote: "I'd love to see a book in this category that is written by someone of African descent not someone setting a book in Africa (Follett, Cussler, and Kaye fall in this category).

I'll nominate [book:A..."

We already have a Michael Stanley book, CBRetriever... Do you have any other ideas?

I'll nominate The Steam Pig by James McClure, the 1st Kramer and Zondi mystery.

Looks like a nice mix so far.

The list of already read books isn't opening, so I am not able to check if this book has been read before.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Bill wrote: "We already have a Michael Stanley book, CBRetriever... Do you have any other ideas? "

hmmm, I guess I'll nominate Random Violence by Jassy Mackenzie in that case.

"P.I. Jade de Jong fled South Africa ten years ago after her father was killed. Now back in town, she offers to help her father's former assistant, Superintendent David Patel, with his investigation of this case. Under apartheid, Patel, of Indian descent, could never have attained his present position. But he is feeling pressure from his "old line" boss with respect to this investigation and fears lingering prejudice is at work."

A Beautiful Place to Die (Detective Emmanuel Cooper #1) by Malla Nunn

It's one I've been wanting to read and won a bunch of awards.

"It is 1952, and new apartheid laws have recently gone into effect, dividing a nation into black and white while supposedly healing the political rifts between the Afrikaners and the English. Tensions simmer as the fault line between the oppressed and the oppressors cuts deeper, but it's not until an Afrikaner police officer is found dead that emotions more dangerous than anyone thought possible boil to the surface."

Devil's Peak Deon Meyer
Homeland Karin Brynard

Present Tense: A Schalk Lourens Mystery by Natalie Conyer.

A top notch police procedural set in Cape Town, South Africa.

Retired police chief Piet Pieterse has been murdered, necklaced in fact. A tyre placed round his neck, doused with petrol, set alight. An execution from the apartheid era and one generally confined to collaborators. Who would target Pieterse this way, and why now?
Veteran cop Schalk Lourens is trying to forget the past. But Pieterse was his old boss and when Schalk is put on the case, he finds the past has a way of infecting the present.
Meanwhile, it's an election year. People are pinning their hopes on charismatic ANC candidate Gideon Radebe but there's opposition and in this volatile country, unrest is never far from the surface.
Schalk must tread a difficult path between the new regime and the old, between the personal and the professional, between justice and revenge.
This investigation will change his life, and could alter his county's future.

I'll second "A Carrion Death" by Michael Stanley it sounds great and as I understand it's the first in a series! I see someone has recommended the second book in the series "The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu," but for me I always start with book one of any series.

I'm shocked to see so many nominations and not one for the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I'm shocked to see so many nominations and not one for the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."

it's on the bookshelf already

https://www.goodreads.com/group/books

Kymm wrote: "I'll second "A Carrion Death" by Michael Stanley it sounds great and as I understand it's the first in a series! I see someone has recommended the second book in the series "The Second Death of Goo..."

I recommended book two because it was quite a bit better than book one and can easily be read as a standalone.

Bill, what do you think? I can defer to the nom of A Carrion Death if others feel strongly about reading the first book in a series.

The no. 1 ladies detective agency by Alexander McCall Smith, set in Botswana.

Been meaning to read this so would be a good reason to :)

looks like it is OK as we read it in 2015

Suzy wrote: "Kymm wrote: "I'll second "A Carrion Death" by Michael Stanley it sounds great and as I understand it's the first in a series! I see someone has recommended the second book in the series "The Second..."

I'm easy actually. We tend to choose the 1st book in a series but it's not a hard and fast rule. If you have any other books you'd like to nominate I'm happy to put the first book in the series in ... Is that wishy washy enough for you?

CBRetriever wrote: "looks like it is OK as we read it in 2015"

Over five years ago so it might now be fresh to a new audience.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I'm shocked to see so many nominations and not one for the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."

Are you nominating The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency or was it just a comment? We have read it as a group read before but as was pointed out, it was 6 years ago. I don't mind putting it in or we could move on to the 2nd book or if you wish. Let me know either way.

Bill wrote: "Suzy wrote: "Kymm wrote: "I'll second "A Carrion Death" by Michael Stanley it sounds great and as I understand it's the first in a series! I see someone has recommended the second book in the serie..."

Bill, I love wishy-washy :)! But with that said, since CBRetriever nominated a different book, I'll stick with my original nomination of The Second Death Of Goodluck Tinubu. Not only is it a stronger book IMO, I don't think one necessarily needs to read A Carrion Death to enjoy it, nor does it give anything away in the first book if someone wanted to backtrack.

Suzy wrote: "Bill wrote: "Suzy wrote: "Kymm wrote: "I'll second "A Carrion Death" by Michael Stanley it sounds great and as I understand it's the first in a series! I see someone has recommended the second book..."

Perfect. Done and done.. :0)

Bill wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I'm shocked to see so many nominations and not one for the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."

Are you nominating The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency or w..."

It was just a comment, but then Griffo nominated it in message 33. ;-)

Shannon M wrote: "I’ll second “Devil’s Peak” by Deon Meyer if my first choice “Heart of the Hunter” isn’t chosen.”

Nico wrote: "Devil's Peak Deon Meyer
Homeland Karin Brynard"

I’ll second “Devil’s Peak” if my choice “Heart of the Hunter” isn’t chosen.

Heart of the Hunter:
Out of post-apartheid South Africa comes a thriller good enough to and nip at the heels of le Carré.

Thobela Mpayipheli is six-foot-three, a giant of a man so (naturally) they call him “Tiny.” During the Struggle, he was an ANC (African National Congress) hero, a ferocious and decorated fighter. But that was then: Tiny’s now is Miriam Nzuluwazi, the “tall, lean, strong and beautiful woman” who kisses him each night when he arrives home from his low-level, low-profile job in Cape Town. Miriam, her small son, their small house, that’s Tiny modest life—and it’s a life he loves. But the advent of a perfectly ordinary woman named Monica Kleintjes sends it crashing. Monica is the daughter of old comrade Johnny Kleintjes, who is in serious trouble, and to whom Tiny owes a debt of honor. If he fails to deliver a certain information-packed disk to a certain blood-thirsty band of terrorists, Johnny's a dead man, Monica tells him, handing him the disk.

Devil’s Peak:
Someone is stalking the South African town of Umtata, executing criminals who prey on young children. The vigilante’s chosen weapon is an assegai, a Zulu spear, and his victims, child molesters and rapists who believed that sex with a baby could banish the AIDS virus, are as deserving a bunch as you could imagine. So it would be hard for DI Benny Griessel, who heads the task force charged with finding the killer the press has dubbed Artemis, to motivate himself even under ideal conditions. As it is, however, conditions for Griessel are considerably less than ideal. His wife Anna, sick of his drinking and abuse, has tossed him out of the house. Charged with identifying and arresting a local folk hero, Griessel would be even more discouraged if he knew that his quarry was Thobela Mpayipheli, the Xhosa farmer who headlined Heart of the Hunter (2004).
…..

So both books feature Tiny (Thobela Mpayipheli).

Devil’s Peak is the first book in the DI Benny Griessel series and so might be the best choice for this group. Tiny appears in Devil’s Peak and also in a later book in the Benny Griessel series (The Last Hunt). The books are written in Afrikaans and translated into English. I’m still waiting impatiently for the latest book in the Griessel series to be translated.

I’ll second Wife of the Gods

Voting for Devil's Peak.

You don't have to 2nd or 3rd books in this group, folks. If it's nominated, unless we've already read or it doesn't fall within guidelines, it'll be in the poll.. I'll set up when I return home on Tuesday, I hope.. Thanks.

I'll be putting up the poll while Bill is stuck in travel hell. I'm updating the nominations list here because I can't edit his post:


1. The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett (nominated by Tom)
2. Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer (nominated by Shannon M)
3. Whitefly by Abdelilah Hamdouchi (nominated by Carolien)
4. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey (nominated by Badria)
5. Death in Kenya by M.M. Kaye (nominated by Hannah)
6. Sahara by Clive Cussler (nominated by Patrick)
7. The Second Death Of Goodluck Tinubu by Michael Stanley (nominated by Suzy)
8. The Dark of the Sun by Wilbur Smith (nominated by James)
9. The Steam Pig by James McClure (nominated by Bill)
10. My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (nominated by Bhavana)
11. Random Violence, by Jassy Mackenzie (nominated by CBRetriever
12. A Beautiful Place to Die, by Malla Nunn (nominated by PattyMacDotComma)
13. Present Tense: A Schalk Lourens Mystery by Natalie Conyer (nominated by Monique)
14. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (nominated by Griffo)
15. Homeland by Karin Brynard (nominated by Nico)

I think that's it. Whew

thanks - It's good to see them all in one place

CBRetriever wrote: "thanks - It's good to see them all in one place"

My pleasure!

Okay, the poll is open and ready for voting. Thanks to all of you!!

link:https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

or, the old-fashioned way if you aren't using the app -- click on the "polls" link at the top right corner of any of the group's pages.

I think that Nico nominated Devil’s Peak first, and Homeland second. Homeland is almost impossible to find in English, so I think we should go with his first nomination.

Shannon M wrote: "I think that Nico nominated Devil’s Peak first, and Homeland second. Homeland is almost impossible to find in English, so I think we should go with his first nomination."

When Nico nominated Devil's Peak, there had already been a nomination for Deon Meyer, so I went with Homeland. If it's not widely available, I need to know like now so he can go with another book. Or I can just take it off the poll.