Harmony
Harmonie is a fictional wine farm in the Cape; it’s the former home of John Harman, the hero of Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend. I wanted to bring John’s former life, hinted at by Dickens, in to focus, and to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his mother in Africa. In this novel he is helped – and hindered – by a variety of well-known Dickens characters, a few from Conan Doyle as well, and particularly by some now famous KhoiSan individuals who feature in the Bleek-Lloyd archive of the University of Cape Town. Murder is on the cards.
The Merger
A murder mystery set in South Africa during the time – after 2006 – when formerly black institutions merged with their white counterparts. Job security went by the board. But the tone is light-hearted – mostly. Poaching, money laundering, academic rivalries combine to bring tragedy to some and happiness to others. Murder yet again of the cards!
Stormy Weather
Is this too a murder mystery? You will have to wait to the end to find out. It explores the story of a reticent middle-class family in a small Scottish town (with no incomprehensible Scottish accents or deep-fried Mars Bars).