Skip to main content

Kwei Quartey

Biography

Kwei Quartey

Kwei Quartey is a crime fiction writer and retired physician based in Pasadena, California. Quartey was born in Ghana, West Africa, to a Ghanaian father and a black American mother, both of whom were lecturers at the University of Ghana. His novel WIFE OF THE GODS made the Los Angeles Times bestseller list in 2009. The following year, the National Book Club voted him Best Male Author. He has two mystery series set in Ghana: the Detective Inspector Darko Dawson investigations and the Emma Djan investigations.

Kwei Quartey

Books by Kwei Quartey

Last Seen in Lapaz: An Emma Djan Investigation
by Kwei Quartey - Fiction, Mystery

Just as things at work are slowing down for PI Emma Djan, an old friend of her boss’s asks for help locating his missing daughter in Accra. According to her father, Ngozi had a bright future ahead of her when she became secretive and withdrawn. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was be with her handsome new beau, Femi, instead of attending law school in the fall. So when she disappears from her parents’ house in Nigeria the middle of the night, they immediately suspect Femi was behind it and have reason to believe the pair has fled to Ghana. The case escalates quickly when Femi is found murdered at an opulent hotel in Accra, but there are no signs of Ngozi at the scene. As Emma digs further, she discovers that Femi was part of a network of sex traffickers across West Africa.

Sleep Well, My Lady: An Emma Djan Investigation
by Kwei Quartey - Fiction, Mystery

Hard-hitting talk show host Augustus Seeza has become a household name in Ghana, though notorious for his lavish overspending, alcoholism and womanizing. He’s dating the imposing, beautiful Lady Araba, who leads a self-made fashion empire. Fearing Augustus is only after her money, Araba’s religious family intervenes to break them up. A few days later, Araba is found murdered in her bed. Her driver is arrested after a hasty investigation, but Araba’s favorite aunt, Dele, suspects Augustus Seeza was the real killer. Almost a year later, Dele approaches Emma Djan, the only female PI at her agency. To solve Lady Araba’s murder, Emma must not only go on an undercover mission that dredges up trauma from her past, but navigate a long list of suspects with strong motives.

The Missing American: The First Emma Djan Investigation
by Kwei Quartey - Fiction, Mystery

When her dreams of rising through the Accra police ranks crash around her, 26-year-old Emma Djan is unsure what will become of her career. Through a sympathetic former colleague, she gets an interview with a private detective agency that takes on cases of missing persons, theft and infidelity. Meanwhile, Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged widower in Washington, DC, has found solace in an online community after his wife’s passing. Through the support group, he’s even met a young Ghanaian widow he’s come to care about. When her sister gets into a car accident, he sends her thousands of dollars to cover the hospital bill --- to the horror of his only son, Derek. Then Gordon decides to surprise his new love by paying her a visit --- and disappears.