A compulsively readable novel

The searing African sun, the mysterious and threatening witch doctor, corruption, smuggling and brutal murders - if you can only read one book this summer, make it this one. Written by Michael Stanley, not one author but the dynamic South African duo Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, this is a debut novel full of local colour, energy and passion that will leave you gasping for more.

Set in Botswana, the novel's hero is Detective Kubu, a larger than life character without whose presence this hefty novel would be empty and awkward. Detective Kubu's real name is David Bengu, but he is affectionately known as "Kubu", Setswana for hippopotamus. He is the food-loving, opera-singing police detective that we would all love to have in our community (but perhaps suggesting this to our local police might be met with some resistance).

Just as Kubu is not your average detective, this is not your average novel about diamond mining and Afrikaaner family dynasties consisting of very spoilt brats with very big guns. It is also set in present times. Moving the setting to contemporary Botswana lends the story a new twist of flavour and colour.

Botswana is an environmentally and culturally diverse vibrant country that now enjoys a very stable democracy and standard of living. Although its people are as diverse as the country, ethnic tensions survive between the nomadic Bushmen and everybody else who has given in to sedentism. The Bushmen, actually an umbrella term for several groups of hunter-gatherers such as the San and the !Kung, are generally regarded with suspicion for their wandering ways. Their appalling treatment - and they have suffered both at the hands of Botswana and South Africa - is handled rather superficially, but at least, the authors both acknowledge the problem and also pay homage to a diverse group of people and their contribution to Botswana. It is not often that Bushmen play a good supporting role in a story.

The events in A Carrion Death centre around the fictitious Botswana Cattle and Mining Company (BCMC). Botswana has fabulous diamond resources and since the late 1970s, mining has been tightly controlled by the government in partnership with De Beers. BCMC is the opposite of reality, in many ways. It is privately owned by the (fictitious) Hofmeyrs and pays little regard to local customs and wishes, although in the end the Hofmeyrs and BCMC are reigned in significantly. The BCMC symbolises greed and destruction which threaten not only the characters, but also Botswana. Perhaps this is what the authors are most concerned with and this is channelled via Detective Kubu, his formidable wife and his even more formidable parents.

What is so engaging about this tale is that it is not just a good murder mystery. It is the story of a land caught between tradition and change, the last vestiges of colonialism and independence. The BCMC is the last bastion of colonialism and the Hofmeyrs, while superficially sensitive to Botswana, are more than happy to bite the hand that feeds them, ultimately leading to their destruction.

Stories set in southern Africa are becoming more popular in external markets, as witnessed by the astounding success of Alexander McCall Smith's The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. This can only be a good thing and will hopefully lead to the wider dissemination of southern African literature outside the continent.

The authors have a second Detective Kubu novel in the pipeline and honestly, I cannot wait. Meantime, you can read a short story and a sneak preview of the next book on www.detectivekubu.com

• Ms Vella Gregory is an archaeologist and devoted foodie. When she is not busy with ancient artefacts, she can be found cooking and enjoying good food and entertaining friends.

• A review copy of this title was supplied by ARCO - Allied Retail & Commerical.