“Afrikaner Tromp Kramer and Bantu Sergeant Zondi [are] two detectives who are as far from stereotypes as any in the genre” (P. D. James, bestselling author of Death Comes to Pemberly). The year is 1962. Young Lt. Tromp Kramer of the Trekkersburg Murder and Robbery Squad has been ordered up to Jafini, a small, dusty town in northern Zululand, to investigate the “hero’s death” of the town’s chief detective, Maaties Kritzinger—another Afrikaner maverick, and one with many secrets. Kramer finds himself increasingly identifying with the victim as the investigation proceeds. And then his path crosses that of Bantu Det. Sgt. Mickey Zondi, who is trying to locate a killer whose summary execution will quiet the spirits of his ancestors. Despite racial differences, the two men sense a kinship—one that might prove dangerous in rural South Africa in the year of Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment. This riveting entry in the Gold Dagger Award–winning series reveals how the team of Kramer and Zondi first met, set against a fascinating historical backdrop.
