October 15, 2020
Emma Djan, the cop-turned-private eye who waded through every swamp of corruption in Ghana in her debut, The Missing American (2020), investigates a second case that's much more intimate. The law may believe that fashion mogul Lady Araba Tagoe was murdered by her chauffeur, Kweku-Sam, but her aunt, Dele Tetteyfio, isn't having any of it. Convinced that the Ghana Police Service has beaten a confession out of Kweku-Sam just so that they won't have to figure out how the real killer could have penetrated Araba's exclusive gated community without raising any hackles, she wants Yemo Sowah's agency to look into the case--assuming of course that she can get a 10% discount--preferably by finding evidence against Araba's sometime lover, Augustus Seeza. Augustus is almost too obvious a suspect, a TV news producer and interviewer coddled by his parents, High Court justice Julius Seeza and his wife, and separated from heiress Bertha Longdon, the spouse who's had it up to here with his drinking, his affairs, and his constant promises to turn over a new leaf. And it certainly looks suspicious that the forensic evidence Sgt. Isaac Boateng collected at the murder scene was never processed by the police lab and Boateng himself was reassigned from Homicide to Domestic Violence. But the case turns out to be more complex than Auntie Dele imagines, and there's no guarantee that she'll be pleased with the results Emma and her colleagues dig up by assuming false identities and going undercover at every waking moment. A gripping setup, some workaday sleuthing, and a neatly turned solution.
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Starred review from November 2, 2020
In Quartey’s terrific sequel to 2020’s The Missing American, PI Emma Djan takes on a nearly year-old cold case—the murder of high-profile fashion icon Lady Araba in the bedroom of her lush mansion in a gated community known as the Beverly Hills of Accra, Ghana. Lady Araba’s aunt doesn’t believe her niece’s chauffeur, who was convicted for the killing, is guilty. Emma and her colleagues at the Yemo Sowah Agency assume various undercover identities—as housekeeper, cop, construction worker, professor, journalist, interested house buyer—in an effort to narrow the long list of possible culprits, including family members, several lovers, and an alcoholic TV talk show host. Stops at the morgue and a forensic lab, as well as an ongoing search for a unique murder weapon, contribute to the dark atmosphere. Along the way, Quartey skewers Ghanaian politics, religion, and the law. Smooth prose complements the well-wrought plot. This distinctive detective series deserves a long run. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Assoc.
December 1, 2020
Quartey's second book in the "Emma Djan Investigations" series (after The Missing American) opens in an upscale enclave in Accra, Ghana. The gardener of up-and-coming fashion designer Lady Araba finds her murdered. The investigation into her death is quickly botched by inadequate forensics and, more significantly, political maneuvering. Shortly before her demise, Lady Araba was linked romantically to the alcoholic talk-show host Augustus Seeza, the only son of a powerful judge, Julius Seeza. When the official investigation falters, Lady Araba's Aunt Dele brings the case to Emma Djan's firm, and she and her colleagues take on the case. They probe Lady Araba's past and dig up some significant dirt about her family and the abuse she endured as a child from her father, an Anglican priest. Emma must sift through the facts to find out the truth about Lady Araba's death. VERDICT This engaging and well-developed mystery will appeal to readers looking for a solid police procedural with compelling characters and an international setting. The local culture is vivid, and a glossary at the end aids readers with unfamiliar words.--Kristen Stewart, Pearland Lib., Brazoria Cty. Lib. Syst., TX
Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2021
This second Emma Djan novel, following the acclaimed series debut (The Missing American, 2020), finds the Ghanaian PI on the job when fashion icon and social-media celebrity Lady Araba is murdered in her lavish home. Emma's agency is approached by Araba's Aunt Dele, who claims her niece's relationship with TV talk show host Augustus Seeza was turbulent and that he was with her the night she died. It turns out that there are several people with strong motives, including Araba's own father, a noted preacher, who sexually abused her as a child. Emma goes undercover to unmask the real killer and free Araba's driver, who was falsely accused of the crime and has been languishing in jail. The story is brilliantly executed by moving forward and back in time, although Emma's fans might wish she had a bigger role. Quartey, also the author of the Darko Dawson series, is one of the strong voices in the current wave of African crime fiction, which provides relevant insight into a continent anxious to maintain its unique identity yet thrive in the twenty-first-century world.
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