Category Archives: South Africa

Random Violence by Jassy Mackenzie

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

Mackenzie, Jassy – ‘Random Violence’ Paperback: 384 pages (Dec. 2011) Publisher: Soho Press ISBN: 1569479119 Jade de Jong returns to her native South Africa after ten years away. She’s a PI whose father was the police commissioner of Johannesburg, but … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.5 stars, Africa, Books, Crime fiction, Debut, Eurocrime, Private investigator, Series, Social comment, South Africa, Thriller | Leave a comment

Mixed Blood by Roger Smith

Posted on December 15, 2011 by

Mixed Blood by Roger Smith Serpent’s Tail, 2009 (Kindle edition). Reviewed at Petrona, December 2011.

Posted in Africa, Books, Crime fiction, Debut, Social comment, South Africa, Thriller | Leave a comment

Trackers by Deon Meyer

Posted on September 8, 2011 by

Trackers Deon Meyer translated by Laura Seegers (from Afrikaans) Hodder & Stoughton, 2011 Reviewed at Petrona, September 2011.

Posted in Adventure, Africa, Books, Crime fiction, Political, Series, Social comment, South Africa, Thriller, Translated | Leave a comment

Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn

Posted on October 15, 2010 by

Let the Dead Lie by Malla NunnPan Macmillan, 2010.  The year 1953 finds Emmanuel Cooper in Durban, no longer a policeman after the Morton’s fork he faced in A Beautiful Place to Die, working in the shipyards with other ex-army men … Continue reading →

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Blacklands by Belinda Bauer

Posted on October 15, 2010 by

Blacklands by Belinda BauerCorgi,  2010 Exmoor dripped with dirty bracken, rough, colourless grass, prickly gorse and last year’s heather, so black it looked as if wet fire had swept across the landscape, taking the trees with it and leaving the … Continue reading →

Posted in Award winner, Books, Crime fiction, Debut, England, Europe, Psychology, Social comment, South Africa | Leave a comment

A Beautiful Place to Die, by Malla Nunn

Posted on August 22, 2010 by

A Beautiful Place to Die This impressive debut novel is set in South Africa in 1952, in the immediate aftermath of the election which resulted in the Boer government and specifically the Immorality Act, by which the “white”, coloured” and … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Australia, Books, Crime fiction, Debut, England, Police procedural, Series, Social comment, South Africa | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dead at Daybreak by Deon Meyer

Posted on August 15, 2010 by

Dead at Daybreak Translated from the Afrikaans by Madeleine van Biljon. Dead at Daybreak is an exciting yet emotional thriller about a broken man, Van Heerden (we learn his first name later on in the book). At the outset, he … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Africa, Books, Crime fiction, Private investigator, South Africa, Thriller, Translated | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Thirteen Hours, by Deon Meyer

Posted on April 7, 2010 by

            Thirteen Hours Translated from the Afrikaans by K. L. Seegers Thirteen hours in the life of South African police Detective Inspector Benny Griessel make Jack Bauer's exploits look like child's play. In the early hours of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Crime fiction, Eurocrime, Police procedural, Series, Social comment, South Africa, Thriller, Translated | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Like Clockwork, by Margie Orford

Posted on January 26, 2010 by

Like Clockwork My contribution [to the Crime Fiction Alphabet] this week is a review of a book I have just finished reading, Like Clockwork by Margie Orford (Atlantic books).   Set in Cape Town, Like Clockwork follows the life and thoughts of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, Crime fiction, Debut, Police procedural, Private investigator, Social comment, South Africa, Thriller | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Dead Before Dying, by Deon Meyer

Posted on January 4, 2010 by

Dead Before Dying (Coronet books) translated by Madeline van Biljon. Mat Joubert, a captain in the Murder and Robbery division in the Cape Town police, has spent two years in a deep depression after the death of his wife, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, Crime fiction, Debut, Police procedural, Psychology, Social comment, South Africa, Thriller, Translated | Tagged , , | Leave a comment