Orenda Books has teamed up with Jonathan Ball Publishing in South Africa, to celebrate publication of Michael Stanley’s chilling, sophisticated, warmly funny and absolutely nail-biting thriller Facets of Death –prequel to the award-winning Detective Kubu series. The Times said, ‘The local colour is as delightful as the intriguing investigation’.
It’s Sunshine Noir meets Nordic Noir, as the Queen of Icelandic Suspense, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, guides the proceedings, introducing readers to the South African writing team who make up Michael Stanley – Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip – and quizzing them about the Botswanan setting, the breathtaking plot and everyone’s favourite detective, David ‘Kubu’ Bengu, who makes his first appearance in Botswana CID! Yrsa will also give us a preview of her chilling new thriller, The Doll, out in July.
This event is free to attend, however we do encourage you to support the authors in any way you can and all of the authors’ books are available in good bookshops and online now. Signed copies of Facets of Death are available EXCLUSIVELY from our bookshop: HERE. For South African readers, there will be copies available from Jonathan Ball HERE.
Email: cole@orendabooks.co.uk to book your place.
You will receive a confirmation email once you register, and on the day of the event itself will be sent details for attendance. Please ensure you have downloaded Zoom. We will be taking questions on the day of the event via the chat function.
Michael Stanley
Michael Stanley is the writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Both were born in South Africa and have worked in aca- demia and business. Stanley was an educational psychologist, specialising in the application of computers to teaching and learn- ing, and is a pilot. Michael specialised in image processing and remote sensing and taught at the University of the Witwatersrand.
On a flying trip to Botswana, they watched a pack of hyenas hunt, kill, and devour a wildebeest, eating both flesh and bones. That gave them the premise for their first mystery, A Carrion Death, which introduced Detective David ‘Kubu’ Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department. It was a finalist for five awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger. The series has been critically acclaimed, and their third book, Death of the Mantis, won the Barry Award for Best Paper- back Original mystery and was shortlisted for an Edgar award. Deadly Harvest was shortlisted for an International Thriller Writers award. Dying to Live is their latest Detective Kubu book.
They have also written a thriller, Dead of Night, in which investigative journalist, Crystal Nguyen, heads to South Africa for National Geographic and gets caught up in the war against rhino poaching and rhino-horn smuggling.
For information about Botswana, the book and its protagonist, please visit www.michaelstanleybooks.com. You can sign up there for an occasional newsletter. They are also active on Facebook at face- book.com/MichaelStanleyBooks, and on Twitter as @detectivekubu.
Yrsa Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Author of the bestselling Thora Gudmundsdóttir crime series and several standalone thrillers, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1963 and works as a civil engineer. She made her crime fiction debut in 2005 with Last Rituals, the first instalment in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series, and has been translated into more than thirty languages. Her work stands ‘comparison with the finest contemporary crime writing anywhere in the world’ according to the Times Literary Supplement. In 2011 her standalone horror novel I Remember You was awarded the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award and was nominated for The Glass Key, and has been made into a film starring Jóhannes Haukur. In 2015 The Silence of the Sea won the Petrona Award for best Scandinavian crime novel, and The Legacy, the first novel in the Freyja and Huldar series, was nominated for The Glass Key and won the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award. All of her books have been European bestsellers.
