African mysteries

Mystery Authors of Southern Africa A-Z

If you want to explore more crime fiction and thriller authors whose books are set in southern Africa, Mike Nicol has the full list with references to their books. Take a look at his Who’s Who of South African crime fiction writers.

African mysteries & thrillers worth reading

Here’s our choice of the best recent Southern African Mystery/Thrillers. Michael discusses with Sophie Roell what they’re about and why we chose them. Take a look:

Best Southern African Crime Fiction

Pangolins – the most poached animals in Africa. Those who try to stop it. The Protector by Tony Park

Michael writes a monthly column Africa Scene in the International Thriller Writers emagazine The Big Thrill in which he interviews a contemporary writer who is African or whose setting is Africa. February featured Tony Park’s latest thriller set in southern Africa.

Read about the new book and its author:

Africa Scene: The Protector by Tony Park

Goodreads

Take a look at, or follow, our Goodreads page for our reviews and thoughts about (mainly) African mysteries and thrillers here.

Agatha Christie

Learn about Agatha’s time in Africa (and the African thriller that came out of it) from our presentation with Bryony Rheam:

Agatha Christie loved to explore and made a trip to South Africa and (the then) Southern Rhodesia before the British Empire Exhibition. Her thriller The Man in the Brown Suit came out of that trip to Africa. So did her lifelong love of surfing. You can hear the whole story in this presentation from the 2022 Agatha Christie International Festival with us and Bryony Rheam from Zimbabwe:

https://youtu.be/kbQqDDPGCqs

Elspeth Huxley

One of the earliest writers of mysteries set in Africa was Elspeth Huxley (of Flame Trees of Thika fame). She wrote three mysteries in the 1930s.

  • Murder at Government House (1937)
  • Murder on Safari (1938)
  • Death of an Aryan (USA); The African Poison Murders (1939)

James McClure

James McClure was a South African journalist who left his homeland for the United Kingdom because of apartheid. He wrote a wonderful series featuring Afrikaner Lieutenant Tromp Kramer and Zulu Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi. Several of his books were banned in South Africa because this police team was multi-racial.

  • The Steam Pig (1971)
  • The Caterpillar Cop (1972)
  • The Gooseberry Fool (1974)
  • Snake (1975)
  • The Sunday Hangman (1977)
  • The Blood of an Englishman (1980)
  • The Artful Egg (1984)

He also wrote a delightful thriller set in Lesotho.

  • Rogue Eagle (1976)