Title: A Beautiful Place To Die
Author: Malla Nunn
Review: If you love police procedurals get
on this series right now! The author is
only three books in and they are absolutely fantastic.
I love a
great mystery, especially one that can educate me on a part of history I know
nothing about beyond the basics. The
hero of the books is English police detective Emmanuel Cooper, trying to
balance the tensions of learning the truth to solve the case, and the racial
policies of 1950’s apartheid South Africa.
The white police captain has been found murdered in the small border
town of Jacob’s Rest. Was it the black
population, or smuggler’s from Mozambique, or the usual suspects of most
crimes, greed and lust? In a community
where power is king and racial tensions high, can Cooper navigate the all the
factions and manage to stay afloat.
Nunn opens a
world of restrictive laws and racist mindsets and presents a multi-layered
crime equal to any in the genre. The
atmosphere is almost the Wild West as he tries to get the truth while not
risking upsetting the apple cart too much, because it would mean his
death. And with each step closer to the
truth what is revealed others would wish to remain hidden. They would pin it on some random undesirable
than the perceived ugliness of what really happened be known; if only to
protect the deceased and their own reputations.
An absorbing
mystery from a tremendous series that anyone interested in the genre should not
missed. And if you are looking for a
great first step into the procedural novel I couldn’t recommend this series
enough. As for me, this book also
fulfills my three main goals when it comes to expanding my horizons (I analyzed
my reading patterns a few years ago and found I read mainly American White Male
authors). Malla Nunn and Emmanuel Cooper
conquer all three of those problems while being fabulous too. A must read.
Publisher: Atria
ISBN: 978-1-4165-8620-3
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 373
Quick Review: 4.5 stars out of 5
Why I Read It: I read book three, in the series, for
a review and liked it so much I sought out the first two books. This is book one, in the series.
Where I Obtained the Book: Through my local inter-library
loan.
Synopsis: Award-winning screenwriter Malla
Nunn delivers a stunning and darkly romantic crime novel set in 1950s apartheid
South Africa, featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper -- a man caught up in a time
and place where racial tensions and the raw hunger for power make life very
dangerous indeed. In a morally complex tale rich with authenticity, Nunn takes
readers to Jacob's Rest, a tiny town on the border between South Africa and
Mozambique. 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.
Author Biography: Currently resides in Sydney, Australia. Her motto: We are
people through other people.
Other Reviews:
This is a great series! I interviewed Malla earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteShelleyrae @ Book'd Out