New recruit to the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department, Samantha Khama, calls upon Detective Kubu when the hunt for two missing girls hits a dead end … and it becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose, and his motive is terrifying…

‘A wonderful, original voice – McCall Smith with a dark edge and even darker underbelly’ Peter James

‘The perfect combination of “I don’t want it to end” and “I can’t put it down”. Great African crime fiction’ Deon Meyer

‘My favourite writing duo since Ellery Queen’ Ragnar Jónasson

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A young girl goes missing after getting into a car with a mysterious man. Soon after, a second girl disappears, and her devastated father, Witness, sets out to seek revenge.

As the trail goes cold, Samantha Khama – new recruit to the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department – suspects the girl was killed for muti, the traditional African medicine usually derived from plants, sometimes animals, and, recently and most chillingly, human parts.

When the investigation gets personal, Samantha enlists opera-loving wine connoisseur Assistant Superintendent David ‘Kubu’ Bengu to help her dig into the past.

As they begin to discover a pattern to the disappearances, there is another victim, and Kubu and Samantha are thrust into a harrowing race to stop a serial killer who has only one thing in mind…

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'A fascinating police procedural … the most complex book in this series. Besides being an intricate crime puzzle that Kubu and his team must untangle, it also looks at societal issues’ St Paul Pioneer Press

‘Compelling and deceptively written...’ New York Journal of Books

‘Richly atmospheric … a gritty depiction of corruption and deception’ Publishers Weekly

‘Under the African sun, Michael Stanley’s Detective Kubu investigates crimes as dark as the darkest of Nordic Noir. Call it Sunshine Noir, if you will – a must read’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

‘Intelligent, dark and compelling – among the best of today’s crime fiction’ Quentin Bates