Michael Stanley is the writing team of two friends, Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, gentleman who live in South Africa. A Carrion Death is the first in a crime series set in contemporary Botswana, featuring Assistant Superintendent David Bengu and his Police Department. I hope there are many more to come as this was one of the finest first crime novels I have read recently and an outstanding traditional mystery. A badly decomposed body is found in the Kalahari near a sacred site of the local bush people. The investigation leads Kubu to a chain of crimes that links the rich and powerful of Botswana and sends him traveling through Africa. Stanley's narrative is informative and rich in detail. His plotting is excellent, the characters are well drawn and come alive. The ambiance of modern Africa shines through the book. In the last few years many fine foreign police procedurals have been published in the US. Put A Carrion Death at the top.

Richard