Kwei Quartey

"When her dreams of rising through the police ranks like her late father crash around her, 26-year-old Emma Djan is unsure what will become of her life in Accra. Through a sympathetic former colleague, Emma gets an interview with a private detective agency tracking down missing persons, thefts, and marital infidelities. It's not the future she imagined, but it's her best option. Meanwhile, Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged widower in Washington, DC, has found solace in an online community after his wife's passing. Through the support group, he's even met a young Ghanaian widow he really cares about, and when her sister gets into a car accident, he sends her thousands of dollars to cover the hospital bill--to the horror of his only son, Derek. When Gordon runs off to Ghana to surprise his new love and disappears, Derek chases after him, fearing for his father's life. The case of the missing American man will drag both Emma and Derek into a world of Sakawa scams, fetish priests, and those willing to keep things secret through death"--

The Missing American

In the follow-up to the acclaimed series debut The Missing American, PI Emma Djan investigates the death of a Ghanaian fashion icon and social media celebrity, Lady Araba. Hard-hitting talk show host Augustus Seeza has become a household name in Ghana, though notorious for his lavish overspending, alcoholism, and womanizing. He's dating the imposing, beautiful Lady Araba, who leads a selfmade fashion empire. Fearing Augustus is only after her money, Araba's religious family intervenes to break them up. A few days later, just before a major runway show, Araba is found murdered in her bed. Her driver is arrested after a hasty investigation, but Araba's favorite aunt, Dele, suspects Augustus Seeza was the real killer. Almost a year later, Dele approaches Emma Djan, who has finally started to settle in as the only female PI at her agency. To solve Lady Araba's murder, Emma must not only go on an undercover mission that dredges up trauma from her past, but navigate a long list of suspects with strong motives. Emma quickly discovers that they are all willing to lie for each other--and that one may still be willing to kill.

Sleep Well, My Lady

When a prominent couple is found murdered on the Ghanaian coast, Detective Inspector Darko Dawson of the Accra police force is separated from his family while investigating an increasingly dangerous case involving the efforts of real estate and oil interests to force out local fishing villages.

Murder at Cape Three Points

Accra private investigator Emma Djan's first missing persons case will lead her to the darkest depths of the email scams and fetish priests in Ghana, the world's Internet capital. When her dreams of rising through the Accra police ranks like her late father crash around her, 26-year-old Emma Djan is unsure what will become of her career. Through a sympathetic former colleague, Emma gets an interview with a private detective agency that takes on cases of missing persons, theft, and infidelity. It's not the future she imagined, but it's her best option. Meanwhile, Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged widower in Washington, DC, has found solace in an online community after his wife's passing. Through the support group, he's even met a young Ghanaian widow he's come to care about. When her sister gets into a car accident, he sends her thousands of dollars to cover the hospital bill--to the horror of his only son, Derek. Then Gordon decides to surprise his new love by paying her a visit--and disappears. Fearing for his father's life, Derek follows him across the world to Ghana, Internet capital of the world, where he and Emma will find themselves deep in a world of sakawa scams, fetish priests, and those willing to kill to protect their secrets.

Last Seen in Lapaz

The chief inspector in the Ghana police force investigates a gold miner’s death in this “atmospheric” mystery set in West Africa (Entertainment Weekly). “Fans of The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency may have a new hero: Detective Inspector Darko Dawson.” —The Wall Street Journal Darko Dawson has just been promoted to chief inspector in the Ghana police service—and it even comes with a (rather modest) salary bump. But he doesn’t have much time to celebrate, because his new boss is transferring him from Accra, Ghana’s capital, out to remote Obuasi in the Ashanti region, an area notorious for the illegal exploitation of its gold mines. When Dawson arrives at the Obuasi headquarters, he finds it in complete disarray. The office is a mess of uncatalogued evidence and cold case files, morale is low, and discipline among officers is lax. Then, on only his second day on the job, the body of a Chinese mine owner is unearthed in his own gold quarry. As Dawson investigates the case, he quickly learns how dangerous it is to pursue justice in this kingdom of illegal gold mines, where the worst offenders have so much money they have no fear of the law. Chosen for Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List,” Gold of Our Fathers is “exceptional . . . A window into another culture” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

Gold of Our Fathers

Kwei Quartey transports readers to Ghana with this riveting third installment in the Shamus Award-winning Private Investigator Emma Djan series. When Nnamdi Ojukwu’s daughter, Ngozi, elopes with her boyfriend, Femi, Nnamdi appeals to Accra detective Emma Djan to investigate Ngozi’s whereabouts. Weeks later, Femi is found murdered at his opulent residence in Accra, and Ngozi still has not been found. As Emma digs further, she discovers Femi was part of a network of sex traffickers in Europe and several West African countries. Migrants from Ghana and Nigeria are duped into thinking they are on their way to success and riches in Italy. But once there, they are manipulated into sex work with little chance of escape. As successful as Femi was, he made a lot of enemies, all of whom had possible motives to kill him. The question is, which one of them did it? Not only does Emma have to hunt the killer down; she’s in a race against time to find Ngozi—that is, if she’s still alive.

In the slums of Accra, Ghana’s fast-moving, cosmopolitan capital, teenagers are turning up dead. Inspector Darko Dawson has seen many crimes, but this latest string of murders—in which all the young victims bear a chilling signature—is the most unsettling of his career. Are these heinous acts a form of ritual killing or the work of a lone, cold-blooded monster? With time running out, Dawson embarks on a harrowing journey through the city’s underbelly and confronts the brutal world of the urban poor, where street children are forced to fight for their very survival—and a cunning killer seems just out of reach.

An Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery

Children of the Street

Atmospherically set in Accra, Ghana, Chief Inspector Darko Dawson investigates the brutal murder of a high-society bride. In order to expose the truth, Darko must confront the pivotal role religion plays in Ghana--and wrestle with his old demons the investigation stirs up in the fifth entry to the African series. Katherine Yeboah's marriage to Solomon Vanderpuye is all the talk of Accra high society. But when it becomes apparent that Katherine is infertile, Solomon's extended family accuses her of being a witch, hounding her until the relationship is so soured Solomon feels compelled to order Katherine out of the house they shared. Alone on her last night there, Katherine is brutally murdered by an intruder. Chief Inspector Darko Dawson of the Ghanaian federal police has personal as well as professional reasons to find the killer fast: Katherine was the first cousin of his wife, Christine, who is devastated by the tragedy. As Darko investigates, he discovers that many people close to Katherine had powerful motives to kill her, including: Solomon, her husband; James Bentsi-Enchill, her lawyer and ex-lover; and her filthy rich pastor, Bishop Clem Howard-Mills. In order to expose the truth, Darko must confront the pivotal role religion plays in Ghana--and wrestle with his old demons the investigation stirs up.

Death by His Grace

Investigating the murder of an AIDS worker in an African community from which his mother went missing years earlier, Detective Inspector Darko Dawson collects details about the killing and realizes that he is close to solving the truth about his mother's disappearance. A first novel. Reprint.

A Novel

Wife of the Gods

"Darko Dawson has just been promoted to Chief Inspector in the Ghana Police Service--the promotion even comes with a (rather modest) salary bump. But he doesn't have long to celebrate, because his new boss is transferring him from Accra, Ghana's capital, out to remote Obuasi, in the Ashanti region, an area now notorious for the illegal exploitation of its gold mines. The assignment will last at least a year, meaning Dawson has the unpleasant choice of uprooting his entire family or making do without them. Worst of all, when Dawson arrives at the Obusai headquarters, he finds it in complete disarray. The office is a mess of uncatalogued evidence and cold case files, morale is low, and discipline among officers is lax. Dawson is beginning to see how much work is cut out for him when he sets out to investigate his first homicide case, on only his second day on the job. A body has been unearthed in one of the gold quarries--the man who owned the mine, a Chinese immigrant named Bao Liu, one of many who have flocked to the Ashanti region to work the alluvial gold mines. The list of potential suspects is a long one, and Dawson must pursue it alone, because he can't trust his sergeant partner. He learns very quickly how dangerous it is to pursue justice in this kingdom of illegal gold mines, where the worst offenders have so much money they have no fear of the law"--

Kwei Quartey

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