Book picks similar to
The African Trilogy by Peter Rimmer


africa
mystery
south-africa
south-african-authors

The Oak Tree Letters


Lora Lindy - 2014
    She loves their new home called Oakley Plantation, especially when she finds old love letters dated back to the Civil War. Unfortunately, she has only one side of them—letters from Lt. Stanton Winston Tate. Little does she know that across the state, a young man named Trevor Whitfield finds the other half—letters from Constantine Oakley. They both research the couple and find lots of history of the old plantation—and some not so good. In the meantime, Sheriff Carlton Adams is trying to solve all the cold cases before he retires. Three murders are left; all were in the late 1800s, and all involve the Oakleys. Fate intertwines their lives and research. When all seems to come to a dead end, a century year old lady named Mable Carter helps. However, her help unveils a curse and the spirits. Can Issy, Trevor and the Sheriff solve the case? Can they undo the curse?

Graveyard Special (Mill City 1)


James Lileks - 2012
    One waiter, one customer. The overnight fry cook rambles up to the pie case to take his nightly hit of dessert-topping propellant. It’s not a complete surprise when he falls to the floor; the stuff gives him the spins. That’s the point. It’s a bad moment for the boss to arrive, though. It’s worse when the cook turns out to be dead - from a bullet no one heard. For the waiter, it’s the start of the the worst few months of his life, and before it’s done he’ll be neck-deep in drug deals, romances with a faithless minx and an unintelligible Russian teacher - and a plot by campus radicals to blow something big. It’s 1980, after all. No shortage of things to deplore. They’re not too concerned with disco, though; that seems to be on the way out. “Graveyard Special” is another humorous mystery by the author of “Falling Up the Stairs,” and the first in a series of interconnected mysteries that span six decades.

Mitzy Moon Mysteries Books 4-6


Trixie Silvertale - 2021
    Now her otherworldly helpers, a nosy Ghost-ma and a fiendish feline, are the only ones who can save her bacon. But with break-ins, Bingo, and big storms stalling out her investigation, she may not be able to keep her dad out of jail.Over 800 pages of sleuthing fun!The Mitzy Moon Mysteries: Books 4-6 includes three full-length novels PLUS a never-before-released recipe for Rhubarb Buckle.Book 4 – Sparks and Landmarks: Paranormal Cozy MysteryA suspicious fire. A Valentine’s Day discovery. Will this psychic sleuth gamble—and lose?Book 5 – Charms and Firearms: Paranormal Cozy MysteryA weekend getaway. A charming present. Will this psychic sleuth find a suitor on the slopes?Book 6 – Bars and Boxcars: Paranormal Cozy MysteryA robbery on the rails. A gang in hiding. Can this psychic sleuth blow the whistle on a dangerous crew?

Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4)


Bob Blanton - 2021
    

Maisie Dobbs


Jacqueline Winspear - 2010
    It is #25 in their Mysterious Profiles" series. In this book, Jacqueline Winspear tells about the "origins" of Maisie Dobbs, the heroine of her popular mystery series. This booklet is NOT to be confused with her full-length mystery with the same title.

The Killer On the Bell Tower


Issy Brooke - 2020
    Here, genteel dinner parties hide murderers; sparkling balls harbour dastardly villains; and every light society conversation hints at a darker scandal.The Earl of Calaway and his wife, Adelia, have raised and married off seven daughters. Now free of domestic duties, they are building an enterprise as private detectives of a very personal nature, guaranteeing to keep aristocratic reputations intact.In this short story, which can be read at any point in the series of full-length novels, Adelia and Theodore are invited to the trouble-ridden parish of Peverham where the local vicar is convinced that the death of Sir Phileas Hinge was no accident.After all, so many people wanted him dead. Sir Phileas’s ancestral home of Pever House is now occupied by the bombastic Vice Admiral Frankhaus, and both men hated each other. Then there are the Smiths – the oldest and most established family in the area – who look down on everyone else as being merely shabby new money. All three families – the Hinges, the Frankhauses and the Smiths – are vying for control of the parish, and this comes to a head when the vicar asks for money for a new bell in the church. Each family wants to be the one who contributes the most and to have the bell inscribed with their name for all time.The death of Hinge removes one of the players – but who will be next? Theodore and Adelia race to discover the murderer before death strikes again.This book is written in British English by an actual Brit who used to have to curtsey to the local aristocrat from “the big house” when she visited the village school at Christmas. The spelling and grammar is British English throughout. Splendid!

The Charlie Parker Mystery Series: Books 1-4


Connie Shelton - 2012
    She’s an accountant and a partner with her brother in a private investigation business. But when her old friend Stacy North comes looking for help, Charlie gives in and agrees to help.Stacy’s Rolex watch is missing and she’s afraid her husband Brad will find out. The truth is that she was seeing another man, and she’s terrified of Brad’s legendary temper. Charlie finds the missing watch--no problem--but when the “other man” suddenly turns up dead, Stacy is desperate. Can Charlie find out who the real killer is before the police connect Stacy to the victim? It turns out to be the challenge of Charlie’s life.BOOK 2 - Vacations Can Be MurderCharlie is riding front seat on a Hawaiian helicopter tour when she and the pilot spot a lifeless body lying on the rugged rocks of Kauai’s NaPali coast. Drake Langston is the pilot flying the tour. When the flight is over, Charlie assumes her acquaintance with Drake is, too. Within twenty-four hours, though, Drake’s friend and employer, Mack Garvey, is arrested for murdering Gilbert Page. Drake persuades Charlie to help clear Mack.It isn’t easy. The investigating officer has an old grudge against Mack, and it doesn’t help that Mack knew the victim and owed him a half million dollars. Charlie roots out the suspects one by one, never guessing that her own life will be in danger before her vacation is over.BOOK 3 - Partnerships Can Be MurderCharlie returns from her Hawaiian vacation to find her older brother Ron involved with a much younger woman. The more Charlie sees of cute Vicky, the more she realizes how deceitful Ron’s new love is. Is it simply a case of male mid-life crisis, or is there something more devious going on?Meanwhile, Charlie doesn’t have much time to ponder Ron’s problems. Her friend Sharon Ortega is a partner in a restaurant business with David Ruiz. When David turns up dead, an apparent suicide, Sharon comes to Charlie for help. Sharon’s problem is a double-edged sword. If he did kill himself, David’s life insurance won’t pay and Sharon will probably lose the restaurant because she can’t afford to hire a replacement. But if he didn’t kill himself, then it was murder, and Sharon could very well find herself a suspect.BOOK 4 - Small Towns Can Be MurderTucked into the mountains and valleys of northern New Mexico are the hidden towns, little enclaves of history and tradition–and secrets. Charlie and her office assistant Sally Bertrand visit one such place over the July 4th weekend, and when they drop in on a friend they learn that Cynthia Martinez suddenly suffered a miscarriage and died. Privately, friends wonder if spousal abuse caused her death. Charlie agrees to ask a few questions and see what she can find out. Meanwhile, Charlie and her brother Ron have an ongoing dispute over gun control. And Drake Langston, the helicopter pilot she met in Hawaii, is visiting and the romance is heating up.

Eyes of the Wicked


Adam J. Wright - 2020
    The police are shocked to discover that she’s a missing schoolgirl they’ve trying to find for the past three weeks. Traumatised by her ordeal, she’s unable to tell them what happened to her. A woman’s body is found crucified in a barn on the Yorkshire Moors. Evidence found at the crime scene links her to the schoolgirl. Hot on the heels of a commendation for her work on a serial killer case, Detective Inspector Danica Summers is invited to join an elite task force specialising in the investigation of high-profile crimes. Concerned that she’s only been invited because she’s good PR, Dani is desperate to prove that she’s worthy of her place on the team. When the case involving the missing schoolgirl and the murdered woman is taken on by the newly-formed Murder Force, Dani is touched by the vulnerability of the victims and is determined to capture the monster who ruined their lives.Her search for justice will take her to the heart of darkness.The Murder Force series by bestselling author Adam J. Wright will delight fans of LJ Ross, JD Kirk, Joy Ellis, Mark Dawson, and readers of fast-paced mystery thrillers and police procedurals.

There Are Ants In My Sugar


Annica Foxcroft - 2007
    She has to adapt and make a home for her baby daughter and aging husband amidst boreholes, long drops and Aga stoves.She comes to terms with her neighbours, Joshua, a practising Sangoma, and Ben, a Jewish pig farmer; is educated in the ways of the Practical by her indomitable maid May; and comes of age through her determined efforts to create things of beauty amidst the khakibos - a lawn and poetry. She even restores the family fortune by engaging in a lucrative and uniquely South African venture.

The House of Closed Doors Boxed Set: Nell's Story


Jane Steen - 2017
    See why readers rave about the writing, the plot twists, and the characters. NELL LILLINGTON is a spoiled, headstrong 16-year-old when she finds herself pregnant after letting a flirtation with handsome Cousin Jack get out of hand. More willing to bear the consequences of an illegitimate pregnancy than marry, she refuses to name the father and agrees to give birth in a Poor Farm and give the baby up for adoption. At the Poor Farm she meets Tess O’Dugan, a woman the world calls an imbecile but who soon becomes the sister Nell never had. MARTIN RUTHERFORD, Nell’s childhood friend, only learns of baby Sarah when Nell seeks to escape from the Poor Farm—with the child. His own aversion to marriage stems from his dark, unhappy childhood, and despite his attachment to Nell he makes no objection to her plan to move to Kansas, away from prying eyes, with Tess and Sarah. Martin, now free of family ties, has his own plans—he wishes to build a grand department store in Chicago and become one of that growing city’s merchant princes. But Nell and Martin’s plans are steered off course by the secrets and lies of other people, and their paths to happiness are strewn with murder. Nell’s story will take you from the Illinois prairie, to frontier Kansas, and back to a Chicago teeming with opportunistic new Americans and ruthless hardmen.

Requiem for a Patriot (Captain Harry Tennant Mystery Book 2)


David J. Oldman - 2018
     It’s an Arctic January day, one of the coldest winters on record. A man on a deserted East Anglian beach strips naked, neatly folds his clothes and wades into the icy waters. Walks to his death. His final moments are watched by Harry Tennant. The ex-copper has been assigned to observe his target by British Intelligence. The dead man is Joseph Wolff. He is a Russian Jew. He is also a professor of mathematics at Oxford University. All Harry knows is that Wolff had been doing some sort of secret work during the war. So when Wolff waded into the sea and drowned himself, he could not make sense of it. Back in the hotel room where Woolf was staying, Harry discovers an unfinished note hinting of betrayal. Harry can’t resist following a trail of unanswered questions buzzing in his head. It’s a long and tortuous trail that leaves him just staring in the ever more inscrutable face of British Intelligence. David J Oldman’s compassionate and compelling Requiem for a Patriot offers a fictional version of what was happening in Britain during and immediately after of the Second World War as East and West drew closer and closer to head-on collision. It explores a shocking secret. Thoroughly researched and based on actual events, the novel succeeds in combining all-too-human stories with political intrigue, spy rings and cold-blooded murder. It paints a frightening picture of the helplessness of the individual when faced by the monolith that is the state. Born into the austerity of post-war Britain, David J. Oldman began writing in his early twenties. Frequently humorous, and often moving, his books are an examination of ordinary people caught up in life-changing events beyond their control. He presently lives with his wife in the New Forest in the south of England pursuing his deep interest in history, writers and writing. Also published by Endeavour Media is Oldman’s The Unquiet Grave.

Succession


Steven Veerapen - 2020
    She has yet to nominate an heir.The crown looks set to fall to James of Scotland.But it is far from inevitable.Gowrie, a sinister Scottish traitor, has arrived in England. On him is a document containing a shocking secret that will compromise King James.Languishing in prison, artful thief Ned Savage is freed by his patron, the queen’s principal secretary, Sir Robert Cecil. His mission is to find the document before it can be made public. If he succeeds, his life will be spared.But he is not alone in seeking Gowrie.On his trail are a ruthless gang of conspirators. The Red Cross Plot aims to prevent any foreigner from taking the English throne. And the Knights of the Red Cross will kill to secure the document.In a journey that will take him from London to Derbyshire and Scotland, Savage must foil the Red Cross Plot, protect King James’s darkest secret, and keep himself safe from execution.And he must do it all before the curtain falls on Elizabeth’s reign.

Web of Lies


Larry A. Winters - 2015
     When criminal defense attorney Dylan Wood returns from a defeat in the courtroom, he thinks the worst is over. His client will go to prison, and Dylan will move on. But he learns the hard way that not every client is willing to accept the judgment of his peers. Suddenly Dylan has twenty-four hours to overturn the guilty verdict. If he fails, a ruthless, sexy woman who gives new meaning to the term femme fatale will go public with the dark secret of Dylan's own past, destroying his life and those of everyone he loves. This time Dylan is defending himself, and he'll do whatever it takes to survive—even if it means breaking the laws he's sworn to uphold. Web of Lies is a standalone thriller, set in the same Philadelphia legal world as the Jessie Black Legal Thriller series. (Although prosecutor Jessie Black appears in the story, she is not the main character.) If you like gritty crime stories, vividly-drawn characters, and surprising twists and turns, you'll love Larry A. Winters's page-turning story of justice gone crazy. Buy Web of Lies to experience this nail-biting legal thriller today!

China Star


Bartle Bull - 2006
    China Star begins in 1920s Paris, where Shanghai Station the 's Russian count, Alexander Karlov, and Viktor Polyak, the Soviet agent who killed Karlov's parents and abducted his twin sister Katerina, hunt each other through grand hotels, sewers, fashion houses, and embassy parties. Soon after, Katerina sets sail with Alexander for China on the China Star.

A Mother's Song: A Story of the Orphan Train


Cleo A. Lampos - 2013
    Pregnant with their third child, Deirdre works as a washerwoman at the hotel's laundry. If Sean works at all, he drinks his paycheck at the pub. When he is killed in an accident at work, Deirdre is devastated. She gives birth to another son, but cannot work at the laundry. The oldest son lives on the street as a newsie. Rather than let Ava Rose and her baby brother starve to death with her, she signs for them to be put on an orphan train. This orphan train takes these youngsters to Nebraska to Claudine, who has suffered multiple miscarriages. Will the adoption provide the safety and opportunity that Deirdre hopes? This researched story of two mothers and the child who loves both is heart wrenching.It is a poignant tale of hope and courage against unfathomable odds for a better life free from prejudice and poverty.