Short Story Collections
Detective Kubu Investigates
This is a collection of the Michael Stanley short stories about Detective Kubu.
Twenty-first century Botswana is a country with real issues and real murders. In this collection of stories—one never previously published—Kubu investigates three mysterious deaths. A man is stabbed outside a bar. Is it just a jealous fight or is there something much more sinister behind it? A man suffers a gruesome death in a country town. Is it the result of witchcraft, or could there be another cause? A policeman is shot dead at close range in his own home. Is it the colleagues of a man he killed who was resisting arrest? And what of his wife’s alibi? In the last story of the collection, “The Haunting,” a very unusual detective in South Africa solves a strange disappearance and fraud in a most unconventional way.
Detective Kubu Investigates 2
The second collection of Michael Stanley short stories. Two of the stories in this collection involve Kubu himself—one where he’s wrestling with a violent murder linked to rhino poaching in the north of the country, and one where he’s wrestling with cooking dinner for Christmas. (It’s one of his favorite dishes, and the recipe is included if you’d like to try it.) Another story revolves around Bushman people exiled to New Xade in the Kalahari. Something evil has crept into their village. Is it human, or something even worse? Finally, there are a couple of stories that are completely different and set outside Africa.
African Mysteries
The third collection of Michael Stanley short stories. It’s called African Mysteries, and the great cover photo is courtesy of wildlife photographer Aron Frankental. (Aron has a role in our debut novel and is still a close friend even though we bumped him off!)
In The Ring, an informal recycler makes a horrifying discovery in a rich, Johannesburg woman’s garbage bin.
In Three on a Trail, two girls start on a hike along the South African coast, but only one comes out. And that one can’t remember what happened. The missing girl’s brother decides to find out, but gets much more than he bargained for.
Then, an embittered police detective investigates a murder and the theft of diamonds from a De Beers facility in The Last Case of Inspector Fourie. The puzzle is how did the diamonds leave the building through all the automated security, and what happened to them after that?
The collection just didn’t seem right without a Kubu story. So we wrote a new, young Kubu tale to kick it off. In Serial Killer, wet-behind-the-ears Kubu is assigned a trivial case trying to catch a prankster. But then the pranks start to escalate and seem headed towards murder.
Kubu Boxed Set
You can read ALL thirteen of the Michael Stanley short stories from the two Detective Kubu Investigates collections and African Mysteries in one discounted boxed set! There’s also an interview with Kubu himself and an extract from the new Kubu mystery A Deadly Covenant as a bonus.
Short Stories
“Neighbours”
Two neighbours in a small rural village in Botswana are always feuding. Barking dogs, trespassing goats, whatever. When one dies a sudden and mysterious death, the villagers suspect witchcraft and threaten to take the law into their own hands. Kubu doesn’t have long to solve the case.
“Neighbours” appears in an anthology of short stories by South African crime writers entitled Bad Company, edited by Joanne Hichens and published by Pan MacMillan.
If you would like to read the story, click on the title above to download a PDF.
“The Empty Chair,” by Graham Greene and…
“The Empty Chair” is a recently discovered unfinished novella by Graham Greene. Set in an English country house where a group of guests are spending a few days with Lady Alice Perriham, one morning a guest does not appear for breakfast and is discovered murdered. At first it seems straightforward, but the case becomes more and more complicated. Inspector Maybury—an intriguing stamp-collecting detective—follows the trail. But it’s the aging actor—Sir John Collis—who unravels the mystery.
The Strand Magazine published the novella and ran a competition for the best ending to the story. Our offering was chosen and appeared in the Spring 2011 edition (Issue #33).
“The Haunting”
“The Haunting” is a short story about a witchdoctor in South Africa who gets mixed up in a murder. And finds a strange way of solving it.
It appeared in the June-Sept. 2010 issue of The Strand Magazine.
If you would like to read the story, click on the title above to download a PDF.