A Beautiful Place to Die
It is 1952, the dawn of the apartheid era. In a little northern South African town an Afrikaner police captain is found dead with one bullet wound in the head and another in his back, face down in the river bordering with Mozambique. Detective Sergeant Emanuel Cooper is quickly dispatched to solve the murder. The Captain ruled the town and his family owned many of the businesses and much land there. His word was law and set the moral tone for whites and blacks and "coloreds."
Still recovering from wounds suffered during the war, Cooper is a troubled but very gifted investigator. He quickly recognizes that something is wrong in the town, but there are few clues and little in the way of help in his solitary effort, especially because of the separate worlds of Boers, blacks and mixed races as the new apartheid laws grab hold. Complicating matters more so is competition from the infamous Security Branch, determined to pin the murder on a Communist conspiracy.
As Cooper becomes more involved, crossing the racial barriers, the case takes on a more personal meaning and he realizes the deep implications to the people and the town. The characterizations are vivid and the plot unusual for a murder mystery. Apparently, the novel is the beginning of a new series by a talented author. The follow-up will be eagerly awaited. Highly recommended.
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