8 powerful crime books by African writers you should read right now

1.Satans and Shaitans by Obinna Udenwe

Satans and Shaitans is a powerful crime thriller that covers the troubling rise of a terrorist group, the dubious nature of Christian evangelism and the ingrained corruption in politics.

Set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s on-going terrorist tensions, Satans & Shaitans is acclaimed to be ‘a fresh, authentic new voice in Nigeria Crime Fiction'.

2. The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani

Part detective thriller and part literary fiction, Abani’s novel has all the titillating elements that make crime fiction captivating—murders, prostitution, torture, forbidden love, government conspiracies, and so on.

These elements are blended with an artistic sleight of hand that only a seasoned literary craftsman can muster.

3. Murder at Government House by Elspeth Huxley

Murder at Government House is set in the colonial town of Chania, where the governor is found strangled at his desk after a dinner party. Canadian-born Superintendent Vachel of the CID is called in to investigate. He finds himself in a web of colonial intrigue and dubious business dealings.

These mysteries give the reader an excellent overview of British colonialism, and an alluring taste of African geography and culture, including the pervasive influence of witchdoctors.

4. The Screaming of the Innocent by Unity Dow

The Screaming of the Innocent is a powerful and disturbing book. A young girl vanishes; the police guess that she has been eaten by a lion, but the reader knows that she has been ritually murdered for body parts reputed to bestow great power.

The book is good not only because of the intriguing characters and plot, but because the reader finds the premise completely believable because the perspective is purely African.

5. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

Inspector Darko Dawson is a detective in Accra, a moody and potentially violent man. He is asked to investigate a murder in the rural village of Ketanu where he has relatives. Soon he is embroiled with traditional beliefs and fetish priests juxtaposed with modern doctors and AIDS concerns.

6. Devils Peak by Deon Meyer

Devils Peak opens with a high-class prostitute confessing to the minister of a small-town church. The story switches to a black man, once a special agent for the old regime but now grasping for a new life, watching his young son being killed by thugs. The system fails him and the perpetrators are released. He decides to settle the score himself, with vicious murderers who prey on the weak.

This is a gripping suspense novel about revenge, forgiveness, and the race to catch a trained killer.

7. Shadows Along the Zambezi by Diana M. Hawkins

Zimbabwe is a particularly dangerous place. Corruption, violence, rape, murder, and inhuman levels of greed and brutality ruled the land as lawless gangs of murderers battled for power. Pieter van Rooyen, a commercial farmer turned environmentalist, has felt the terror firsthand.

He joins forces with Jessica Brennan, an American wildlife biologist, to protect Zimbabwe's most threatened treasures, the elephants, which are being slaughtered by poachers and corrupt government officials alike-under the guise of conservation.

Despite the terror and sadness that surrounds them, Jessica and Pieter are reminded of the best of human nature as they discover love. Against a backdrop of kidnappings, murders, and international intrigue, a healing love story emerges, proving that love truly can conquer all.

8. Black Mamba White Settler by Ken Tilbury

This moving, action-packed story is of betrayal, war, hate and vengeance. And of loyalty, love and friendship. Farmers and their families and workers after the horrors of the 'Bush War' in Rhodesia now have to struggle for survival in Zimbabwe as land seizures threaten the lives of thousands of people. Many are tortured, raped and murdered while government sponsored thugs destroy the country.

This is the story about a small group of those who have fought and suffered.

READ: 10 awesome books by Black writers you should read in April