Play Book Tag discussion

I managed to sneak one more Africa book in and it was fabulous! I've already downloaded the second Emma Djan Investigation, I so want to spend more time in Accra, Ghana with Emma.

We don't meet Emma until several chapters into this mystery, after we've met other key characters, including the sakawa (internet scammer) Nii and the fetish priest Ponsu, and been introduced to some of the political themes, corruption, and crimes which impact this murder mystery. Emma's dream is to become a homicide detective like her late father. After graduating from the police academy, Emma is assigned to the mind-numbing, soul-destroying boredom of housing fraud in Commercial Crimes, with little or no chance of ever realizing her dream. After a certain traumatic event, Emma is dismissed for life from the police force. Though demoralized and uncertain, Emma finds herself hired by one of the reputable and successful private detective agencies. There she works on the case of a missing white American, Gordon, a man who had come to Ghana to meet a woman he'd met online and to whom he had sent money. I'm sure you can guess, this is one of those internet scams, where such a woman does not exist, of course. When Gordon fails to come home, his son Derek arrives in Ghana to search for him. After getting no real help from the police or the US Embassy, he hires Emma's company. At the final satisfactory (and in some respects surprising) conclusion of all the plot threads, Emma has gained confidence and come into her own.

This is a complex, well-crafted murder mystery that takes you deep into the world of all those internet scams that to this day find their way into our social media pages and emails. Ghana along with Nigeria are the centers for these scams, which actually originated in one form or another in Nigeria in the 1920s. I thought the author did a very good job of explaining that world while keepng the pace of the mystery moving forward. However, it perhaps went on a little too much disclosing just how these scams are managed. Also, there are a couple of time and event jumps that are quite abrupt, as well as some flashbacks late in the book that confused me initially. But those really do not detract for one's immersion in the mystery.

This is from Soho Crime, one of my favorite mystery publishers, and it's up for 2021 Edgar for Best Novel. I suspect I'm going to read the 2nd Emma Djan sooner than later.

Theresa wrote: "I managed to sneak one more Africa book in and it was fabulous! I've already downloaded the second Emma Djan Investigation, I so want to spend more time in Accra, Ghana with Emma.

We don't meet Em..."

I am anxious to get to the next one, too What a great series!

Olivermagnus wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I managed to sneak one more Africa book in and it was fabulous! I've already downloaded the second Emma Djan Investigation, I so want to spend more time in Accra, Ghana with Emma.

..."

I know! But I also want to savor knowing it is there. Waiting for me. I think it will be a reward if I catch up on the books I need to read in April, some carried over from February and March.