The Whitewashed Tombs by Kwei Quartey

 

First Line: Diana Cortland, in all her luminous blondness, burst onstage in a sparkling scarlet gown.

 

Marcelo Tetteh's wealthy father does not trust the Ghana Police Service to find his son's killer. There is rampant homophobia in Ghana, and Marcelo was a well-known LGBTQ+ activist. Instead, Mr. Tetteh goes to the Sowah Private Investigations Agency for help.

PI Emma Djan is assigned the case, but she can't team up with her trusted colleague, Jojo. Emma is the only one at work who knows that Jojo is gay, and he tells her something else: he had been dating the victim for some time.

Emma goes undercover in the International Congress of Families, a powerful organization seeking to criminalize homosexuality in African countries. Emma quickly finds herself navigating the dangerous waters of politics, power, and personal secrets while she tries to unmask the killer, bring justice to the victims, and protect the vulnerable LGBTQ+ community.

~

Once again, author Kwei Quartey has given readers a tense, compelling mystery that takes them right into the heart of politics, power, and the LGBTQ+ community. I found The Whitewashed Tombs (a very apt title) to be chilling in the scope of what homophobic organizations are trying to do to force everyone to kowtow to their vision of what the world should be. There's no doubt that, if successful in this quest, they would turn their gimlet eye on heterosexuals. But I digress.

The Sowah Private Investigations Agency is a strong cast of characters: Sowah himself, Jojo, the less likable Manu, and Emma herself. They all work together well with Dr. Rosa Jauregui, the Cuban forensic pathologist, and DCI Boateng of the Ghana Police Service. In The Whitewashed Tombs, Emma's mother proves to be not just annoying but helpful as well, and Emma has troubles with her boyfriend, Courage to deal with. If there's any one thing that bothers me, it's Emma's lack of undercover skills. She can be so heavy-handed and obvious at times that it's a miracle her body hasn't already been hidden in a landfill somewhere.

However, she does have time to learn, and for that I'm grateful. I enjoy her investigations, and I look forward to another visit to Ghana with Kwei Quartey and his characters.

The Whitewashed Tombs by Kwei Quartey

eISBN: 9781641295895

Soho Press © 2024

eBook, 336 pages

 

Private Investigator, #4 Emma Djan

Rating: A-

Source: Net Galley

Last Seen in Lapaz by Kwei Quartey

 

First Line: Awake now, Emma listened to Courage's slow, rhythmic breathing beside her.

 

When an old friend of Emma Djan's boss comes to the agency for help, Emma finds herself trying to locate the man's missing daughter.

 

Ngozi was set to attend law school and had a bright future ahead of her when she became infatuated with her handsome new boyfriend, Femi. Disappearing from her parents' home in Nigeria in the middle of the night, Ngozi's father believes she's now in Ghana.

 

Emma and her partner have barely begun their investigation when Femi is found murdered in his home in Accra. With no signs of Ngozi in the place, Emma continues to dig for information and learns that Femi was part of a network of sex traffickers that spanned West Africa. 

 

Although it's important to find out which of Femi's enemies murdered him, it's even more urgent for Emma to find Ngozi before she, too, is killed in cold blood.

 

~

 

Last Seen in Lapaz is a hard-hitting story that unfolds slowly and dispassionately, almost as though author Kwei Quartey had to keep a distance between himself and the brutality that can threaten to overwhelm these pages. 

When her dreams of a career in the police force were dashed, twenty-six-year-old Emma Djan found that she has a knack for being a private investigator, and she needs all of her skills to find missing eighteen-year-old Ngozi as well as the killer of Ngozi's boyfriend, Femi.

Ngozi's story often takes a backseat to Femi's, who is a handsome young man to whom money means everything. Femi's attempts to get rich don't come to much until he is released from prison and joins forces with an old friend who's into human trafficking. Femi learns the ins and outs of the new business quickly and soon branches out to the more lucrative sex trafficking and prostitution. The evil that Femi does is shown when Emma finds one of his trafficked clients who managed to escape a Libyan detention center. Last Seen in Lapaz does have scenes of torture and rape, but they are not gratuitous and they are not drawn out; they tell of the incredible brutality desperate immigrants often face when all they want-- all they've paid for-- is the way to a better life for themselves and their loved ones. 

 

The only tiny quibbles I had with the book are its slow pace, its dispassionate tone that kept me from being completely drawn into the story, and the occasional scenes where the characters spoke in pidgin, which tried to tie my brain up in knots. Thankfully, a glossary is provided.

I can see readers passing this book by because of the subject matter and because they don't read to be upset. I can understand that. But sometimes greater understanding comes from reading outside your comfort zone and being upset. Author Kwei Quartey opens the door to a part of the world that few Americans know anything about. His previous series featuring police detective Darko Dawson and this series featuring young Emma Djan have not only entertained me, but they've also taught me a great deal about West Africa, and I appreciate that so very much.

 

Last Seen in Lapaz by Kwei Quartey

eISBN: 9781641293402

Soho Press © 2023

eBook, 360 pages

 

Private Investigator, #3 Emma Djan mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

Sleep Well My Lady by Kwei Quartey

First Line: In the lavish Trosacco Valley, the Beverly Hills of Accra, no one would have anticipated a murder.

 

When the creator of a fashion empire is found dead in her home in an exclusive section of Accra, Ghana, there seems to be only one suspect: popular talk show host Augustus Seeza, who had a tempestuous relationship with the murdered Lady Araba. However, a quick investigation by the police leads to her chauffeur being convicted of the crime.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the police investigation, Lady Araba's aunt, Dele, turns to the Sowah Agency where Emma Djan works as a private investigator. Emma soon finds herself working in various undercover roles, learning that there certainly is no shortage of suspects who have strong motives for wanting Lady Araba dead. Everyone at the agency is going to have to work hard to find the proof that will catch a remorseless killer.

~

The opening chapters of Sleep Well My Lady jump back and forth between various time frames so often that this caused me some minor annoyance, but once the backstory was established, I became immersed in the story-- something that is very easy for me to do each time I pick up a book written by Kwei Quartey.

The murder of Lady Araba is an intricately layered puzzle, and even though this is the second book in the Emma Djan mystery series, it takes the hard work of the entire detective agency to solve the crime. The work of a talented ensemble cast slowly peels back layer after layer of the truth. So many people have strong motives to want this talented woman dead that the reader will probably have trouble deducing which person had not only the desire but the will, to carry out the murder.

One of the things that Quartey illustrates so ably in Sleep Well My Lady is that the problems with the Ghana police force are not just limited to bribery or "looking the other way," and it's in showing readers this that he created two striking minor characters whom I hope to see in future books. One is the forthright Dr. Jauregui from Cuba, and the other is a member of the police force who is told: "...it's tough to be an island of integrity when sneaky crocodiles are all around, circling you." With the world events of the past four years, I think we all know how rare these "islands of integrity" are.

If you enjoy well-written mysteries with standout characters and a strong sense of place, you can't go wrong with anything written by Kwei Quartey. Once you've read the Emma Djan series (the first book is The Missing American), try his Darko Dawson series beginning with Wife of the Gods. You've got some excellent reading ahead of you.

 

Sleep Well My Lady by Kwei Quartey

eISBN: 9781641292085

Soho Press © 2021

eBook, 336 pages

 

Private Investigator, #2 Emma Djan mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey

First Line: Lying flat with the stock of the long-range rifle pressed against his shoulder, the assassin positioned himself on the gable roof of the UT Bank building off Shippers Council Road.

Working in an Apple store is not what Emma Djan had in mind, but when her dreams of becoming a homicide detective on the Accra police force in Ghana come crashing down around her, she knows her bills won't pay themselves. Fortunately, Emma soon finds herself working for a well-respected private detective agency that takes on cases of missing persons.

Emma begins work on the case of Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged widower from Washington, DC, who disappeared after coming to Ghana to meet the woman he'd fallen in love with online. When the police seem unconcerned about his father's disappearance, Derek Tilson contacts the agency, and Emma soon finds herself in the middle of a case filled with online scams, fetish priests, corruption, and people willing to kill to keep their secrets.

I have been a fan of Kwei Quartey's Darko Dawson series since the first book, Wife of the Gods. I was thrilled to discover that The Missing American has the same superb sense of place as Quartey's previous series. Readers can feel as though they're actually in Ghana while they read; the landscape, weather, people, food, and culture give the story a richness that I find irresistible.

Although I loved reading this book, I did find it a bit bloated with a lot of "irons in the fire." Internet scams, sexual harassment, an assassin on the loose, corrupt police and government officials, a center for autistic children, murder, and missing persons just to mention a few. It's a lot to keep track of, and some of that action undoubtedly could have waited for upcoming books in the series.

The characters in The Missing American are an interesting mix. I couldn't really drum up a lot of sympathy for the missing American, which probably sounds a bit harsh, but I certainly do like Emma Djan, whose character is a good blend of intelligence, frailty, and strength. I also want to know more about her boss in the agency, Yemo Sowah. He's a fascinating man surrounded by a bit of mystery-- just the sort of character to pique my curiosity.

Now that Kwei Quartey's new Emma Djan series has well and truly begun, I find myself looking forward with a great deal of anticipation to my next visit to Ghana.

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey

ISBN: 9781641290708

Soho Crime © 2020

Hardcover, 432 pages

Private Investigator, #1 Emma Djan mystery

Rating: A-

Source: the publisher