THE LAST PRE-COVID NOVEL

I can't believe how this [disastrous] year of 2020 is flying by. I believe we are all living through a significant turn in modern history in which one child of a man has almost brought the USA's democracy to its knees, a clueless toad who has murdered thousands through deliberate, malicious negligence over Covid-19. He is, from my mystery writer point of view, a criminal, and his crime could be criminal negligence.

On a lighter note, as 2020 Zooms past (get it?), January 12, 2021 is the release date, Inshallah, of the second novel in the Emma Djan Investigations series, SLEEP WELL, MY LADY (SWML). I was going to do a grand reveal of the cover but Amazon and an Instagram follower both beat me to it. So, I might as well show it here, since the secret is out:

Your tea, My Lady? I trust you slept well?

Fashion icon Lady Araba is found dead in a staged posture in her bedroom in beautiful Trosacco Valley, the Beverly Hills of Accra. The Ghana Police, adhering to their usual scapegoating MO, have arrested Araba's chauffeur on the flimsiest of evidence, but Araba's Aunt Dele believes Augustus Seeza, the rich talk show host who was having an affair with Araba, is the true culprit.

Almost a year after the case has long stalled, Dele approaches Emma Djan, who has finally started to settle in as the only female PI at her detective 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 solid alibis. Emma quickly discovers that they are willing to lie for each other. (Author note: These people are some serious liars.).

In SWML (that's pronounced SWIM-muhl) we see Emma take on a number of undercover jobs to get to the truth. We also see the use of a most unusual weapon not-supposed-to-be-a-weapon for maybe the first time in mystery literature, I like to fantasize so, but I could well be wrong.

SWML will likely be my last pre-Covid story, unles, of course, I write a historical novel. Otherwise, I suspect all my books henceforth will make at least some reference to the Great Pandemic of 2020, as it shall come to be known.

SWML is based very loosely on a true story out of Kenya, which I've written about on this blog before. Although the premise is similar, the end result is quite unlike the real-life case, the most obvious difference being that SWML isn't set in Kenya--I transplanted it to Ghana.

Some residential areas of Accra, the capital of Ghana, are havens of luxury, among them Airport Hills and Trasacco Valley. Funny how rich places are always some kind of "Hills." This kind of decadence is no more any true representation of Ghana's wealth than it is anywhere else.

Trasacco Valley (Video Kwei Quartey)

That clip is from a video recording I did surreptitiously after the real estate agent specifically told me not to, for privacy reasons. I confess I was pretending to be interested in buying one of the houses. If she's reading this, I'm in deep doo-doo.  

By the way, most of the homes in Trasacco Valley are valued a million USD and up, but the next-door development going up now in Trasacco Hills (what did I say about "Hills?")  features houses a little less pricey in the 500 to 800,000 USD range.

They're always looking for buyers, so if you have an inkling to snap up one or two mansions, I'm sure they'd love to hear from you. Tell them I sent you.