Facets of Death by Michael Stanley

 

The Detective Kubu novels by Michael Stanley are an established series and Facets of Death is a prequel, jumping back in time to when Kubu first joined the force as a fresh-faced, fast-tracked detective, straight out of university. As with fast-tracked graduate recruits in police forces everywhere (for example, I’ve heard this is the case in UK police forces, too), Kubu attracts the envy and suspicion of those not on the speedy-promotion route. So he has much to prove and soon gets the chance to do so. When a local diamond mine is robbed of a huge haul of gems, his opportunity to slay his doubters presents itself.

For a good few years so-called Nordic-noir was the big thing in crime fiction. Crime novels set to a backdrop of chilly Scandinavia are still going strong, but for readers such as myself who never really got onboard with the whole Scandi-thing, and who prefer other locales, the steady rise in crime fiction set elsewhere - Australia and South Africa to name just two - has been welcome. The Kubo novels are set in Botswana and I love how Michael Stanley uses the land, wildlife, culture and traditions to bring these stories alive.

Facets of Death is no exception and we have witch doctors, curses, black magic and voodoo aplenty. This is a rich vein which Stanley has tapped in previous Kubu novels (or should that be later novels, seeing as this is a prequel) and it always adds an intriguing dimension to the plot. It’s no exception here, as it adds a unique blend to what is in effect a heist story. 

This is a great addition to the Detective Kubu canon and while it can be read as a standalone, by being a Kubu origin story, it also casts the rest of the series in a new light. I’ve always been a fan of prequels and origin stories and have never understood why some people don’t like them, and I really enjoyed fleshing out the character of Detective Kubu in greater depth.