Review: DETECTIVE KUBU INVESTIGATES, Michael Stanley

• format Kindle (Amazon)
  
• File Size: 323 KB
• Print Length: 78 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00BNWKS9M

Synopsis (Amazon)

"Kubu" Bengu is a detective in the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department. A large man with big appetites - his nickname Kubu means hippo in the Setswana language. He is happily married and lives in the capital, Gaborone.

Twenty-first century Botswana is a country with real issues and real murders. In this collection of stories - one never previously published - Kubu investigates three mysterious deaths. A man is stabbed outside a bar. Is it just a jealous fight or is there something much more sinister behind it? A man suffers a gruesome death in a country town. Is it the result of witchcraft, or could there be another cause? A policeman is shot dead at close range in his own home. Is it the colleagues of a man he killed who was resisting arrest? And what of his wife's alibi?

In the last story of the collection, The Haunting, a very unusual detective in South Africa solves a strange disappearance and fraud in a most unconventional way.

Finally, author Michael Stanley interviews Detective Kubu himself in Gaborone until Kubu amusingly turns the tables!

This entertaining collection of Kubu's shorter adventures is not to be missed by his many fans. And if you haven't met Kubu yet, then a treat is in store for you.

Michael Stanley is the pen name of two South Africans - Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip - who write fiction together. Their novels - all featuring Detective Kubu - are A CARRION DEATH, THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU (A DEADY TRADE in the UK), DEATH OF THE MANTIS, and DEADLY HARVEST. The books have been shortlisted for a variety of awards, and DEATH OF THE MANTIS won the BARRY AWARD for best paperback original in 2012.

My Take

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. They involved Kubu to varying extents. For example in Death of a Policeman Kubu is home on sick leave, having developed pneumonia, and he basically solves the puzzle from his bed although he does sneak out to confront the wife.

In An Issue of Women and Money and also Neighbours he is called in only at end.

It is a nice collection of short stories, very readable, and informative about Kubu's character.

My rating: 4.5

I've already reviewed
5.0, A CARRION DEATH
5.0, DEATH OF THE MANTIS
5.0, DEADLY HARVEST
THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU