20 Great International Mysteries, February 2012

“A beautiful young blond was dead, and the suspect, my suspect, was an African male. I was travelling to Africa in search of his past. What I found there would either condemn or save him. As you can imagine my business was urgent,” relates Detective Ishmael of the Madison, Wisconsin police force. The suspect in his high profile case is a revered former headmaster who during the height of the Rwandan genocide turned his deserted school into a sanctuary for thousands of refugees. Ngugi’s finely paced mystery proffers a richly engaging story of race, violence, love and greed.