Sheridan Griswold
31 October 2008
book review
Michael Stanley (2008) "A Carrion Death: Introducing Detective Kubu". London, Headline, HarperCollins, 404 pages, paperback, P179, ISBN 97-0-7553-4405-5. Available at Exclusive Books, Riverwalk.
Botswana is slowly becoming a nexus for detective stories. The most famous still is the first one, launched in 1998, "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" (Mmegi, 11 February 2000) by Alexander McCall Smith. He has since published nine detective novels in the Precious Ramotswe series that over time have also belonged to Grace Makutsi, J.L.B. Matekoni, Phuti Radiphuti, Mma Potokwani and the orphan farm in Tlokweng (Mmegi, 13 June 2008). They have also been immortalised in a television series that had its start this year and may continue for many more (Mmegi, 25 April 2008).
With all the attention going to Precious Ramotswe and her friends, a number of other good stories about life in Botswana and the various nefarious activities taking place here have not received the attention they deserve. One is the series by Laura Ann Kubuitsile that began with Fatal Payout (Mmegi 1 July 2005).
The other is a novel by Unity Dow, The Screaming of the Innocent, about a Tirelo Setshaba (TS) participant, Amantle Bokaa, who turns detective-now how many of you know that name (Mmegi 17 May 2002)?
In 2008, Michael Stanley (a composite name) wants to tap this mine with the first in a long series of Detective Kubu tales. Outlandishly, in A Carrion Death there is not one, but at least nine possible perceived murders-a record to which none of the other authors aspire. There is an ingredient of missing digits or muti that cuts across some of the other crime novels.
When the authors of A Carrion Death were asked why they were writing a detective fiction story based in Botswana when others already occupied that territory, they replied that they began a decade ago, before they knew of the others. As this is the first in a planned series, one can anticipate that volume two won't take another 10 years. The result of their lengthy effort is an unusual tale that is both gripping and revealing. It is unusually weighty, both in bulk and in the amazing variety of themes. One must conclude that any similarity between Assistant Superintendent David "Kubu" Bengo of Acacia Street and other detectives of "traditional build" is purely coincidental, or is it circumstantial?
A Carrion Death is told in 10 parts that are both dated (raging back and forth between January 2006 and April 2006) and that each open with a quote from a play by William Shakespeare. In all there are 80 chapters (none named) and an Epilogue. The adventure opens on the verge (a word the authors like) of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).
A young University of Botswana (UB) scientist, "Professor" Bongani Sibisi, conducting field research at Kamissa Pan, discovers hyenas at a kill that turns out to be the remnants of a man. Who is he, and why has his body been dumped there, is a mystery that occupies this large tome right to the very end. You can see already that A Carrion Death is not your normal "who-done-it?" Unlike an Agatha Christie crime novel, where possibly three or more people are presented to you as possible culprits, in this story both the dead and the living and what they have done is clearly laid out.
Not much has to be done on the reader's part as the lazy "armchair detective". The mysteries in this novel are at a more complicated level and deal with motivation, why people have done what they have done. You will have to persevere to the end to find out who the mysterious crime kingpin, known as "Daniel", really is.
The authors at the start present a detailed "cast of characters" with two dozen names, who they are and what they do. There are another half dozen people who are left out, the most important of these being the friendly and very prescient traditional doctor who haunts Bongani, and Sculo the hit man from Angola described simply and stereotypically as a "huge black man". There is also "Happy" the street-kid (but when did homeless kids operate alone?) and some rangers at Dale's Camp, plus other minor characters.
While one can develop some affection for detective David "Kubu" Bengo, who is assigned to the Kamissa murder case, it is not so easy with many of the other characters. Kubu is a young man who went to Maru-a- Pula School on a scholarship and was given his nickname there by a fellow cricket lover, Angus Hofmeyr.
Angus is the favourite son of Roland Hofmeyr, an industrialist who died 15-years ago in a plane crash in the CKGR. Since Roland's death the mine and cattle enterprises known as BCMC have been run by Cecil Hofmeyr. Soon after Roland died, his wife, Pamela, and their two children left to live in England. Angus has a twin sister Dianna, who is the brighter and better educated of the siblings. Soon they will be 30 and are due to inherit control of the BCMC. The BCMC has a mine at Maboame, also on the verge of the CKGR, that was declared marginal by other diamond interests. Recently, in bi-weekly waves, it has been producing better quality diamonds.
A geologist there from Germany, Aaron Frankental, has made some startling discoveries, written a three-page confidential letter to Cecil Hofmeyr outlining his suspicions, and then he suddenly disappears.
It's not difficult for Kubu and his colleagues, Edison Banda, Zanele Dlamini and Jacob Mabaku, his director at CID, to assume that the Kamissa body must be Aaron's. But first they have to eliminate the possibility that it might be a German tourist who was in the area, or ...? The manager of the Maboane diamond mine is Jason Ferraz, a handsome young geologist from Portugal, who has run mines in Angola before coming to Botswana. Jason has met and is secretly having an affair with Dianna Hofmeyr. Now what kind of operation is he managing south of the CKGR?
Then some other strange events occur. There is a break-in at BCMC and Aaron's letter is stolen. A bit of it is found under his body when Kubu is knocked out by the big black man while examining the dead body of Thembu Kobedi. Kobedi was a professional blackmailer and pimp who always slipped out of the clutches of the authorities, perhaps because he was blackmailing them too? What is in this letter and why kill to get it back? Who ordered the killing? Then to complicate things further Happy observes Sculo being killed by Red Beard, alias Antonio de Vasoncelos a.k.a Manuel Fonseca.
Who is this mysterious Red Beard and who is he acting for? A Carrion Death also treads heavily into government policies, local politics, the ownership of minerals and smuggling of diamonds, and ultimately power and control and who really is to benefit from a nation's wealth? There is nothing to say that a hefty novel should not be involved in weighty issues. Everywhere in the world it is who you drink, eat and sleep with, even who you play golf or tennis with, that counts-plus old school ties.
There is also much here for those who are connoisseurs of fine wines, pretty women and gourmet food, all pre-occupations of the best detectives worldwide. Kubu is addicted to supercold steelworks (concocted from cola syrup, ginger ale, soda water and bitters). Kubu also loves the best of romantic operas, even sings along in his car. Lookout though, first published in the United States on April Fool's Day, there are some odd Americanisms that have stuck in this British edition of this "Crime Files" novel. Perhaps one is calling Gaborone a "village".
Michael Sears' and Stanley Trollip's multiple backgrounds have placed them uniquely to develop A Carrion Death. They include a variety of experiences, including being: (watch this word "being", as it is missing where it should be in this novel and its absence is very misleading) a small-plane pilot with a number of licenses; an aviator flying extensively over Botswana, landing and both camping on the ground; two retired university professors, one a mathematician and an expert on geological remote sensing and ecological modelling who taught at Wits while the other is an educational psychologist, knowledgeable about mimics and multiple personalities, who taught by distance at Capella University in Minnesota.
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