Monday, November 2, 2015

A Death in the Family by Michael Stanley

Hello All,

A Death in the Family by Michael Stanley begins with the title; Detective Kubu’s father is murdered. The book takes us through all the sadness and work that everyone goes through when death occurs. The funeral, the grieving, the horrible sense that nothing is right. All of this is made worse by the fact that Wilmon Bengu was murder. Why?

And then the house is robbed, and Mr. Bengu’s will is missing. What now?

Next, a riot ensues when a chief and elders of a community decide against allowing mining on tribal lands; the younger men of the tribe need and want the jobs. The chief and at least 2 elders are killed. What now?

Detective Kubu, who is now an Assistant Superintendent, is heartbroken when his father is murdered. Of course he is told to stay away from the case, but he still hovers at the edges, making several mistakes that earns him the ire of his boss. He is even sent to New York, to give a speech at a conference for his boss, and he still does a little detecting there.

The reader gets more than one point of view in this story; among others, we get the viewpoint of Kubu’s superior, an excellent detective in his own right as well as several others within the police force. I enjoyed the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Jacob Mabaku’s view, and how hard he also worked on the cases.

Upon Kubu’s return, things really heat up, both towards solving who instigated the riot, and who murdered a second man. Unfortunately, Kubu makes a grievous error when interrogating a suspect, and is forced to take a leave of absence. Despite this mistake, the case(s) draw to a close, but not without one final twist at the end.

Happy Reading,
Patti

A Death in the Family by Michael Stanley, Minotaur Books, October 27, 2015; ISBN 9781250070890

This book was sent to me for review by the publisher; no other compensation was offered or accepted for this review.

No comments: