Facets of Death

November 18, 2019
Thriller Award–finalist Stanley’s entertaining seventh mystery featuring policeman David “Kubu” Bengu (after 2017’s Dying to Live), a prequel, focuses on Bengu’s early days with the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department. In 1998, Bengu, who’s earned the nickname Kubu (meaning hippo) because of his girth, has been hired as a detective sergeant straight out of university, despite lacking experience as a beat cop. That special status makes his new colleagues jealous, even as Kubu dives into two baffling cases. One involves tourist luggage that keeps disappearing on flights from Botswana to Europe and that provides Bengu an opportunity to display his cleverness. The other, more important case involves identifying the mastermind behind an attack on an armored vehicle carrying diamonds that left numerous guards dead. Series followers will enjoy the backstory to a significant personal relationship for the endearing lead. Stanley (the writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip) should win fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, likewise set in Botswana, with this outing. Agent: Jacques de Spoelberch, J. de S. Assoc.

November 15, 2019
New challenges and a baffling mystery face a charismatic detective when he joins the CID. David Bengu, nicknamed Kubu--that is, "hippo" in Setswana--for the size of both his person and his personality, beams with joy on being appointed a DS with Botswana's Criminal Investigative Division. But Kubu (Dying To Live, 2017, etc.) learns immediately that his expansive manner is not appreciated in the regimented, by-the-book CID. His first case is a baffling one that concerns disappearing luggage on a transcontinental flight. Kubu is sent back to headquarters to track missing items while senior officials get the more glamorous job on the scene. Lax security allowed the robbers to pull off the crime. The case becomes more urgent when three guards are killed, giving Kubu his chance at the limelight. Might one of the guards have been among the robbers? The stolen baggage contained diamonds, and the complex scheme to steal them involves multiple airports, a polishing facility near the airport, and operatives in Botswana's capital city of Gaborone. How did the robbers even know which box contained the diamonds? Kubu takes the lead in questioning witnesses, from the head of security at the diamond mine to the plane's pilot. Meanwhile, Stanley also takes the reader inside the thieves' den, where paranoia and discord grow in tandem with the investigation. While the veteran CID detectives express pessimism about the case, an invigorated Kubu is optimistic and determined to unravel it. Series fans take note: This seventh Kubu mystery is set at the beginning of the detective's storied career. Stanley's 95 short chapters underscore the hypereagerness of the charismatic young detective.

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December 1, 2019
Kubu is Setswana for "hippopotamus," one of the most dangerous animals in the world, despite its docile countenance. Hippopotamus is also Botswana CID detective David Bengu's nickname, and he's proud of it. It has been just a bit over 10 years since the big guy debuted in A Carrion Death (2008), and this seventh title in Stanley's series is a prequel. The reader spends Kubu's first, nervous day on the job with him, and, oh joy, we are with him when he meets Joy, the love of his life, for the first time. He is assigned two investigations, both involving crime at airports. One is straightforward, dealing with missing luggage, but the other eventually takes him from a sabotaged airplane explosion down a winding and dangerous trail encompassing a deadly diamond heist and a menacing witch doctor. Botswana is a large, sparsely populated country of about two million people, with few detectives, but between Kubu and Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe, the tradition of botho?humility, dignity, courtesy, and respect for others?is upheld in all its richness, which makes for a reaffirming read every time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)