Michael Stanley - Author
About the Author
Michael Stanley is the writing team of native Africans Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. The two friends have had many adventures together, including tracking lions at night, fighting bush fires on the Savuti plains in northern Botswana, surviving a charging elephant and losing their navigation maps while flying over the Kalahari. Michael Sears lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. Stanley Trollip divides his time between South Africa and Minneapolis, MN.
Featured books by Michael Stanley
Facets of Death
A thrilling and enthralling novel that is just so beautifully easy to read I raced through it while inhaling every word. This is the prequel to the Detective Kubu series of books set in Botswana by the writing duo of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. If you’ve not read any of the previous books in the series then of course this is the perfect start! Detective David ‘Kubo’ Bengu is recruited from university straight into the position of Detective Sergeant in CID which causes consternation in his colleagues and makes his first job of a diamond robbery all that much harder. The cast of characters with phonetic pronunciations and map at the beginning are particularly helpful. I love the feel of this novel, it takes all the attributes of Kubo and paints with them, allowing you fall for this gently charismatic and fiercely intelligent man as he learns his trade. The storyline is riveting, sense of place vivid, and characters fascinating. Set in 1998 Facets of Death is an atmospheric, intriguing, and wonderfully readable crime novel I most definitely recommend.
A Carrion Death
Contemporary Botswana but this is not the land of Mma Ramotswe of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. This is a dark, tough Botswana of diamond smuggling and corruption, and this stars Assistant Superintendent David Kubu Bengu. I liked him which is good news for he’s going to reappear in several more books. The traditional cultural background is here but this is a modern land where global influences prevail. It’s good. Comparison: Peter Temple, Colin Cotterill, Matt Rees.
Other books by Michael Stanley
Dead of Night
A freelance journalist is dragged into a deadly investigation when researching an article on rhino-horn smuggling in South Africa. An unputdownable new thriller from the authors of the critically acclaimed Detective Kubu series. '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 Jonasson 'Compelling and deceptively written' New York Journal of Books _______________ When freelance journalist, Crystal Nguyen, heads to South Africa, she thinks she'll be researching an article on rhino-horn smuggling for National Geographic, while searching for her missing colleague. But within a week, she's been hunting poachers, hunted by their bosses, and then arrested in connection with a murder. And everyone is after a briefcase full of money that may hold the key to everything... Fleeing South Africa, she goes undercover in Vietnam, trying to discover the truth before she's exposed by the local mafia. Discovering the plot behind the money is only half the battle. Now she must convince the South African authorities to take action before it's too late. She has a shocking story to tell, if she survives long enough to tell it... Fast-paced, relevant and chilling, Dead of Night is a stunning new thriller that exposes one of the most vicious conflicts on the African continent... _______________ 'Promising series launch...an entertaining page-turner. Readers will look forward to the sequel' Publishers Weekly 'From Minnesota to South Africa to Mozambique to Vietnam, Michael Stanley's Dead of Night is an extraordinary tale of the extreme measures taken to combat international poaching and smuggling' C.J. Box 'As dark as the darkest of Nordic Noir' Yrsa Sigurdardottir 'A wonderful, original voice' Peter James 'Impossible to put down' Library Journal
Dying to Live
When the body of a bushman with puzzlingly young organs is stolen from the morgue and a local witch doctor goes missing, Detective Kubu becomes involved in a life-threatening case. 'Richly atmospheric ... a gritty depiction of corruption and deception' Publishers Weekly 'The African Columbo ... a smart satisfyingly complex mystery' Entertainment Weekly 'A wonderful, original voice - McCall Smith with a dark edge and even darker underbelly' Peter James _______________ When the body of a Bushman is discovered near the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the death is written off as an accident. But all is not as it seems. An autopsy reveals that, although he's clearly very old, his internal organs are puzzlingly young. What's more, an old bullet is lodged in one of his muscles ... but where is the entry wound? When the body is stolen from the morgue and a local witch doctor is reported missing, Detective 'Kubu' Bengu gets involved. Kubu and his brilliant young colleague, Detective Samantha Khama, follow the twisting trail through a confusion of rhino-horn smugglers, foreign gangsters and drugs manufacturers. And the deeper they dig, the wider and more dangerous the case becomes... A fresh, new slice of 'Sunshine Noir', Dying to Live is a classic tale of greed, corruption and ruthless thuggery, set in one of the world's most beautiful landscapes, and featuring one of crime fiction's most endearing and humane heroes. _______________ 'Detective David Kubu Bengu is a wonderful creation, complex and beguiling. Compelling and deceptively written' New York Journal of Books 'My favourite writing duo since Ellery Queen' Ragnar Jonasson 'Dying to Live is a skilfully plotted story of greed and its consequences; making the case for Detective Kubu absorbing, like the Botswana backdrop' ShotsMag '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 Sigurdardottir 'Intelligent, dark and compelling - among the best of today's crime fiction' Quentin Bates 'Fascinating, dark and beautifully written ... Kubu is a detective worth knowing. More please!' Northern Crime
A Death in the Family
Detective Kubu's world is shattered when his father is violently murdered. Defying orders, he sets off on the killers' trail ... with shocking consequences... 'This fifth mystery featuring Detective Kubu is another fast-moving procedural notable for its warm characterizations and vivid sense of place. A natural for fans of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' Booklist 'A wonderful, original voice - McCall Smith with a dark edge and even darker underbelly' Peter James 'Impossible to put down. Kubu's painstaking detecting skills make him a sort of Hercule Poirot of the desert ... This series can be recommended to a wide gamut of readers' Library Journal _______________ 'There's no easy way to say this, Kubu. Your father's dead. I'm afraid he's been murdered.' Faced with the violent death of his own father, even Assistant Superintendent David 'Kubu' Bengu, Botswana CID's keenest mind, is baffled. Who would kill such a frail old man? The picture becomes even murkier with the apparent suicide of a government official. Are Chinese mine-owners involved? And what role does the US Embassy have to play? When grief-stricken Kubu defies orders and sets out on the killers' trail, startling and chilling links emerge, spanning the globe and setting a sequence of shocking events in motion. Will Kubu catch the killers in time ... and find justice for his father? Set amidst the dark beauty of modern Botswana, A Death in the Family is a thrilling insight into a world of riots, corruption and greed, as a complex series of murders present the opera-loving, wine connoisseur detective with his most challenging - and personal - case yet. _______________ '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 Jonasson 'Bengu is a wonderful creation, complex and beguiling. The exotic smells and sounds of Botswana fill the pages as well as the changes and struggles of a country brimming with modern technology yet fiercely clinging to old traditions. 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 Sigurdardottir
Death in the Family
"e;There's no easy way to say this, Kubu. Your father's dead. I'm afraid he's been murdered."e;Faced with the violent death of his own father, Assistant Superintendent David 'Kubu' Bengu, the smartest detective in the Botswana police, is baffled. Who would kill such a frail old man? Kubu's frustration grows as his boss, Director Mabaku, bans him from being involved in the investigation.The picture becomes even murkier with the apparent suicide of a government official. Are Chinese mine-owners involved? And what role does the US Embassy have to play?Set amidst the dark beauty of modern Botswana, A Death in the Family is a thrilling insight into a world of riots, corruption, and greed, as a complex series of murders presents the opera-loving detective with his most challenging case yet. When grief-stricken Kubu defies orders and sets out on the killers' trail, startling and chilling links emerge, spanning the globe and setting a sequence of shocking events in motion. Will Kubu catch the killers in time?
Death of the Mantis (Detective Kubu Book 3)
The third novel in the fantastic Detective 'Kubu' Bengu crime series is set in the southern Kalahari area of Botswana - a place full of buried lost cities, incredible hidden wealth, ancient gods and, for thousands of years, home to the nomadic Bushmen. When a fractious ranger named Monzo is found dead, fallen into a donga - a dry ravine - surrounded by three Bushmen, the local police arrest the nomads. Detective 'Kubu' Bengu is on the case, which reunites him with his old school friend Khumanego, a Bushman and now an advocate for his people. Khumanego believes the arrests are motivated by racist antagonism from the police, as the Bushmen are claiming that they were at the murder scene because they were trying to help. Soon after Monzo's death, Detective 'Kubu' learns of another case involving two botany students on their way back from a specimen-collecting trip but who were later found dead, seemingly poisoned, at a campground. Could the deaths be connected?
A Deadly Trade (Detective Kubu Book 2)
Set amid the beauty and darkness of modern Botswana, the second in the fantastic crime series featuring the opera-loving wine connoisseur Assistant Superintendant David 'Kubu' Bengu of the Botswana Police Force When a mutilated body is found at a tourist camp in northern Botswana, the corpse displays the classic signs of a revenge killing. But when fingerprints are analysed Detective 'Kubu' Bengu Kubu makes a shocking discovery: the victim is already dead. He was slain in the Rhodesian war thirty ago. Kubu soon realises that nothing at the camp is as it seems. And as the guests are picked off one by one, time is running out. With rumours of horrifying war crimes, the scent of a drug-smuggling trail and mounting pressure from his superiors to contend with, Kubu forgets there is one door left unguarded - his own. And as he sets a trap to find a murderer, the hunters are closing in on him...
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