Synopses & Reviews
A Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/ThrillerNairobi, 2007. In Africas sprawling megacity, a small elite holds power over an impoverished, restless majority. With Kenyas presidential elections looming on the horizon, tensions in the city have reached an all-time high. So when the body of a prostitute is discovered inside Uhuru Park, the police are too preoccupied to care. But Detective Mollel does, and deeply. He is a former Maasai warrior, and the dead girl was Maasai too. As he ventures from slums to skyscrapers, from suburbs to sewers in search of the killer, Mollel is forced to confront his turbulent past—and the terrifying realization that this homicide is anything but typical.
Richard Cromptons Hour of the Red God is a dark, thrilling, and vividly imagined mystery, with a hero as complex as Nairobi itself.
Review
“A compulsive whodunit set in Kenya, where tribal politics can get you killed.”—Ian Rankin
“Spellbinding and grimly fascinating.”—The Christian Science Monitor
“An impressive novel...full of the indigenous sights and sounds we crave in such a work.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Its an unusual feeling for a mystery fan to get in on a new series this good from the first book....Richard Cromptons debut Detective Mollel novel is a fantastic read, an exotic hard-boiled noir with heart and a fascinating, troubled hero.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“From the moment we meet Mollel...we enter an entirely fresh world....This is a smashing debut, as fleet-footed as the warrior himself. It will make you long for the next installment.”—Financial Times (London)
About the Author
Richard Crompton lives in Nairobi, Kenya, with his wife and their three young children. A former BBC journalist, Crompton left London several years ago when his wife, a human rights lawyer, was offered a job in Rwanda helping to prosecute the perpetrators of genocide.