Brief Mention: LAST SEEN IN LAPAZ, by Kwei Quartey

Collecting international crime fiction? Ghana-born physician and author Kwei Quartey's Darko Dawson series, set mostly in Ghana, has been a pleasure; Quartey's current series is a spinoff that features Emma Djan, a private detective always alert to gender discrimination as she works her way up in a local agency (the police force dumped her, early in the series).

LAST SEE IN LAPAZ opens with the disappearance of a young Nigerian woman, daughter of a friend of the agency owner. (Lapaz is a town in the Accra Metropolitan District -- not related at all to La Paz, New Mexico.)  The attractive and hard-working Ngozi seems to have run away from home, across the national border, and might be in Accra. If, that is, she's alive.

Emma Djan isn't yet authorized to do a lot of investigation on her own, but she has an advantage here, because she can perform a flirtatious role with the greedy (in every sense) hotel owners who seem linked to the disappearance. When one hotel turns out to be supplying female companions, perhaps forced into this upscale prostitution, Emma's both horrified and fascinated. Anything to avoid the boredom of routine PI work!

Her insight into women's lives also gives her an advantage as she investigates with Boateng, the local DI (inspector on the police force):

Boateng grunted. "You seem to be studying this room closely, Djan. What do you see?"

"No disorder, no chaos. It has a controlled feeling. Someone who has been in this room was trying to gain control over the other, but couldn't quite do it. ... This entire house is a clue."

Despite his California location, Quartey's writing continues to have the choppy feel of translated material, possibly an intentional effect to suggest the movement among local languages and dialects. The book suffers somewhat from quick changes in point of view, among investigators and criminals. But it's still a revelatory experience of urban life in Ghana, and neatly plotted, with caste and related attitudes deftly portrayed. 

Collect it for your African mystery shelf, as well as for the diverse spread of Soho Crime's continued global outreach.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Brief Mention: THE MISSING AMERICAN, Kwei Quartey, Ghana Mystery

The Ghanaian mysteries from Kwei Quartey, published under the Soho Crime imprint of Soho Press, prove how vital it is to read, read, read -- across lines of culture. Following the emotional journey and puzzle solving of a crime novel protagonist conveys culture far more effectively than a documentary can. Because what matters most is the human journey of exploration, growth, survival ... and love.

Quartey, born in Ghana and now a a physician in southern California, created his first series around Ghana Police Service officer Darko Dawson and his family. Freighted with significant needs for his wife and children and the community he cares for, Dawson's negotiated crime and corruption, and done well for himself. Still, in many ways, despite the very different landscape, the framework for the Darko Dawson novels has felt familiar, an echo of the values and passions of North American life.

With his newest title, THE MISSING AMERICAN, Quartey takes a leap into far more edgy writing, with dark twists and disturbing motives. Fittingly, he introduces a new protagonist: 26-year-old Emma Djan, eager for a police career like her father's but dumped unceremoniously out of the police force in a harshly unfair twist that #metoo readers will confirm is far too likely.

However, with a dash of luck, a connection with a former associate takes Emma to a job after all, in a private detective agency. The "crimes" she'll investigate are more personal and less idealistic -- cheating spouses, for instance -- but also include missing persons, as well as opportunities to test her deductive reasoning. It's not the worst possible outcome.

Yet Ghanaian crime includes notorious global scam networks, and Emma's fall from grace hasn't made her immune to this dark network of misleading and threat. When her path crosses with that of American Derek Tilson, whose vulnerable and lonely father's become a scam victim and is now missing, the plot escalates. Suddenly Emma's in the midst of experiences very much like those she'd have faced as a police officer:

The attendant rolled back the sheet and Emma saw it was even worse than she'd imagined. Had not a head and outstretched arms been present, Emma would bot have thought it human. Eyes popped out from a blue-green face that had become slimy, bloated, and pushed off to the side like a badly-fitted mask. The mouth was open with the lips forming an oval in a silent scream for help. Some of the skin on the arms and chest had turned deep purple and had sloughed off—or was about to.

Emma shuddered and averted her eyes. Derek retched, turned, and ran out of the room. Sowah looked at Ema and they both went after Derek. He was outside the building leaning against the wall in the rain.

Because Emma's worked to find Derek's father as a missing person case, her role is technically now done -- but can she let go of solving the actual crime?

Quartey laces THE MISSING AMERICAN with other scenes that are as tragic and terrible, and some that shiver with horror. He uses Emma's reactions to probe the reasons for such moments: poverty, morality, family dysfunction? Whichever is responsible for each form of human abuse, it's not isolated. And in this new depth of exploration, Quartey gives us a fresh series with potential for sustained insight and deep, if painful, consideration.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.