Wife of the Gods – An Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery (Kwei Quartey)

Agatha Christie in Ghana? Or, as my mother would say if she longs for a good old fashioned murder mystery: “I need at least two corpses, some passionate love and a happy ending.”

Wife of the Gods has all that and is a pleasant (why is reading about murder pleasant?) if predictable read. In tried and tested Agatha Christie fashion we have an oh-so-innocent seeming murder victim whom a surprisingly high number of people wish to see dead. Some extra spice is added by the fact that the story is set in Ghana, so apart from the ordinary greed and passion we also deal with the evil eye and all kinds of magical beliefs.

I enjoyed the read, had some nostalgic longing for Ghana, which still feels like a second home. I’d read the next “Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery” – though I don’t know if I’d spend the money on buying the book. If you enjoy “No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”, you’ll like Darko.

The House at Sugar Beach (Helene Cooper)

“This book is a memoir. But it is also a work of discovery” (author’s note)

Isn’t it strange, how you can live in a time and place and still know next to nothing about it? Helen Cooper looks back at her privileged childhood as member of the ruling “Congo” class in Liberia, descendants of the freed US slaves who founded the country. How does the American politically enlightened journalist that she is now come to terms with a past in a completely different system and mindset?

This book is rich and honest and the different places and eras feel authentic in Cooper’s description. Did it touch a nerve because I can relate to the way that, when she moves to the US, she looses sight of people she used to be close to – even though they are always on her mind?