Is Alexander McCall Smith the only writer of crime fiction set in Africa?  No, there are more and many of them show a  much more grimmer view of sub-Saharan Africa.   In the August 29, 2011 “Publishers Weekly” Leslie Picker offers more for the reader than Precious Ramotswe, the main detective at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Michael Stanley,  (writers Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip) has just published the third title in the David “Kubu” Bengu series.  The series is set in contemporary Botswana and the most recent title, Death of Mantis,  interweaves the prejudice against the Bushmen into the murder mystery.   Ghanaian author, Kwei Quartey, sets his two book series in Accra.  His third book,  Men of the Rig, will be out next year.

Crime fiction from South Africa predominates as the publishing industry there is the most robust in Africa.  The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn, is set in late 2oth century South Africa.  The protagonist is lawyer Abby Bukula, the grown daughter of parents killed during an anti-apartheid protest.  This is the first book in a projected series.    Malla Nunn, has two books featuring Emmanuel Cooper, a detective working the 1950s apartheid South Africa.  Deon Meyer, who writes in Afrikaans, won the 2010 Martin Beck Award for the best crime novel in translation for Devil’s Peak,  another mystery set in South Africa. Picker even throws in Zoo City, a science fiction/fantasy crime novel by Lauren Beukes. Beukes’ book also takes place in South Africa.

If McCall Smith is the only crime writer from Africa you have read expand your horizons.  Or if you have tired of Scandinavia,  try a title from much farther south.

Believe it or not, stealth Waldo’s are making mysterious appearances on the streets and buildings of Boulder, Colorado. And this city’s officials are not what you’d call amused. Even though many residents actually are enjoying the surprise graffiti.Threatening legal action should perpetrators be found, the city of Boulder plans to remove them soon. See more about the story below:

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18551232

Waldo, an iconic children’s picture book character, first made his American appearance in 1987. Martin Handford, a British author, originally called his character Wally. But changed it Waldo when the first book was published in Canada and the United States. This book and those that followed were a huge hit worldwide, selling millions of copies. They also spawned a television series, comic strip, magazine, video games, and even cereal box puzzles and prizes.

The fascination that generations of children have had with Waldo books is due to the use of picture puzzle imagery. Though there’s a slight storyline, the emphasis is upon tiny illustrations with thousands of details spread over double page spreads. There are usually a dozen scenes with Waldo hidden in them. In addition, each book has additional hidden objects and/or characters in each scene specific to that book. Reader aren’t told about some until the end of the book so that they’ll have to go through the pages again. Since the 80′s, the original books have been revised several times to refresh the series, thus finding new audiences.

There are many fine picture puzzle books in the library’s collection. If you and your children enjoy solving mysteries or finding hidden objects while reading be sure to check out these authors’/illustrators’ works:

Delfine Chedru – Spot It!; and Spot It Again!

Martin Handford – Where’s Waldo?; Where’s Waldo Now?; Where’s Waldo? In Hollywood; Where’s Waldo? the Fantastic Journey; Where’s Waldo? the Great Picture Hunt; and Where’s Waldo? the Wonder Book

Laura Ljungkvist – Follow the Line; Follow the Line Through the House; Follow the Line Around the World; and Follow the Line to School

Dan Marzollo – I Spy: a Book of Picture Riddles; I Spy Fun House; I Spy Mystery; I Spy Spooky Night; I Spy Fantasy;  I Spy School Days; I Spy Super Challenger; I Spy Christmas; I Spy Year-Round Challenger; I Spy Spectacular; and I Spy A to Z

Joan Steiner – Look-Alikes; Look-Alikes Jr.; Look-Alikes Christmas; and Look-Alikes Around the World

Walter Wick – Can You See What I See? Picture Puzzles; Can You See What I See? Dream Machine; Can You See What I See? Seymour Makes New Friends; Can You See What I See? Once Upon a Time; Can You See What I See? On a Scary, Scary Night; and Can You See What I See? Seymour and the Juice Box Boat

The latest Kurt Vonnegut collection, While Mortals Sleep, should be out in January.  In the introduction, Dave Eggers calls Vonnegut a  “hippie Mark Twain.”   We’re down to stories that he couldn’t get published while alive tho, so we’re well into diminishing returns.

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 is out now, and a massive tome it is.  Two more volumes are scheduled.  Why wait 100 years?  Supposedly, Twain considered his opinions so incendiary, he wanted to be long gone, and his loved ones, too, by the time they were published.  I kinda hoped for same with Vonnegut, but no.

Object of Beauty, the new Steve Martin novel should be out by now.  It concerns the art world of New York City.  We also have his banjo record, which won a Grammy.

Anyone else think the new Sedaris is a dud?

You’ll have to wait until March 11 for local favorite Sarah Vowell’s Unfamiliar Fishes. It deals with Hawaiian history, in terms of American imperialism, which she argues peaked in 1898.

Deep Creek is a historical novel that recounts the story of an 1887 massacre of more than 30 Chinese gold miners in a remote area of Idaho along the Snake River. The story begins when a small town judge and former sheriff, Joe Vincent, takes his ten year old daughter, Nell, fishing and Nell ends up snagging a body…and then another one, and another one. The Chinese miners working for the Sam Yup Company have been brutally murdered and their bodies mutilated. Vincent ends up working with a representative of the mining company, Lee Loi, and metis mountain guide Grace Sundown to track the killers and bring them to justice.  The characters are compelling, the story is intriguing, but the history is what really caught me up in this book. Dana Hand is a pen name for Will Howarth and Anne Matthews who have collaborated on eighteen books of nonfiction, many of them on American history. They know their stuff. The Wild West is portrayed in all it’s glory and excitement, but the dark side of land deals, exploitation, and casual, often violent, discrimination against Chinese immigrants and American Indians is the back story.  This is a Mystery, a Western and a character study — not an easy read, but a rewarding one.

A best selling author in Sweden, this is the first of author Camilla Lackberg’s books to be translated into English. It tells the story of Erica Faick, a writer who has come back to the tiny resort town of Fjallbacks to put her parents’  house in order after their death. While there, a childhood friend who she has not been close to in years dies of an apparent suicide. Erica’s search for the truth and an understanding of what had happened to her once good friend in the years that have passed slowly reveals clues and a complicated set of possibilities. The tale is a little Agatha Christie-ish with many motives and characters and a strong sense of time and place.  Erica teams up with another childhood friend and local police officer, Patrik, who has an almost pathetically incompetent boss.  If you like Scandinavian mysteries you’ll like this book.