Publishers Weekly
★ 07/08/2024
Quartey’s fourth mystery featuring PI Emma Djan (after Last Seen in Lapaz) is the best yet, interweaving an agonizing portrait of anti-LGBTQ prejudice in Ghana with a top-notch whodunit. Djan works for Accra’s Sowah Agency, an investigative firm retained by Godfrey Tetteh to probe the murder of his gay 27-year-old son, Marcelo, who’s been hacked to death by someone who posed as a potential partner on a hookup app. Godfrey hires Djan’s agency because he doesn’t trust the local authorities with the inquiry, given Marcelo’s status as one of Ghana’s most vocal queer activists. In a recent television appearance, Ghana’s antigay tourism minister, Peter Ansah, told viewers they “knew what to do” if they ever saw Marcelo on the street; Ansah was also present when Marcelo disrupted a speech by a well-known Christian fundamentalist. Emma’s investigation—which treats Ansah as a primary suspect—grows complicated when she learns that her closeted partner used to date Marcello. To find answers, Emma goes undercover, with one of her least favorite colleagues, to infiltrate the upper ranks of Ghana’s government. Quartey never puts a foot wrong, keeping the plot twists coming fast and furious without sacrificing the story’s heart. Readers will be wowed. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Assoc. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Whitewashed Tombs
“The Whitewashed Tombs succeeds on many levels, first, as an expertly plotted mystery, then as a window into Ghanaian culture but, most crucially, as the story of the human rights tragedy currently unfolding in Africa where draconian laws, some carrying the death penalty, threaten the very existence of LGBTQ communities. Though never didactic, Kwei Quartey’s novel nonetheless records the horrifying consequences suffered by ordinary people targeted by ignorance and bigotry even to the point of murder. An indispensable book.”
—Michael Nava, author of the Henry Rios mysteries
“[A] piercingly written tale of modern life in Ghana . . . The murder mystery is compelling here, but readers will also be absorbed by the politics and religious machinations and the emotional brutality the mixing of the two creates.”
—First Clue, Book of the Week
“Quartey’s fourth mystery featuring PI Emma Djan is the best yet, interweaving an agonizing portrait of anti-LGBTQ prejudice in Ghana with a top-notch whodunit . . . Quartey never puts a foot wrong, keeping the plot twists coming fast and furious without sacrificing the story’s heart. Readers will be wowed.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“An impassioned plea for advocacy in LGBTQIA+ rights, specifically in the current political climate of Ghana.”
—Library Journal
Praise for the Emma Djan Investigations
“There is courage in these pages, in every sense—in the choices of the story’s hero's, the storytelling and the extensive research Quartey reportedly undertook to inform his story . . . A thrilling mystery, a compulsively emotional novel that doesn’t turn away from either extreme violence or the necessity of hope.”
—The Washington Post
“Quartey’s plots are expansive, free-ranging, and packed with characters to manipulate . . . It’s a delicate balance, even in this period of true-crime mania, transforming real tales of human suffering into works meant to entertain while remaining respectful of the victims. Quartey, so far, hasn’t misstepped.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books
“Fascinating . . . This tightly crafted mystery immerses readers in the sights, sounds and characters of Ghana . . . Emma is an audacious and compassionate private investigator with a keen awareness of her country's dangerous class hierarchies and deep cultural misogyny.”
—Star Tribune
“There’s plenty of the locale here which adds spice to an excellent and topical plotline but at its heart, this novel is a well-crafted tale of clues followed and information gained.”
—The Globe and Mail
“[A] well-crafted tale. Those who love crime fiction are going to lean all the way into this one.”
—Audiofile Magazine
“Kwei Quartey's Last Seen in Lapaz is a true reward. A daring, ingenious thriller propelled by strong women, ceaseless intrigue and scintillating prose.”
—Kalisha Buckhanon, author of Speaking of Summer
“From Lagos to Ghana, and through the Sahara to Libya, Last Seen in Lapaz is a story that is as gripping as it is important.”
—Leye Adenle, author of Easy Motion Tourist
“Quartey is an accomplished novelist who creates real characters and puts them in clever and palpable circumstances . . . He does it with such easy nonchalance that we live the lives of his characters, hear the West African pidgin dialect and recoil with every trap Quartey sets for his characters.”
—Murder Ink, The Durango Telegraph
“Quartey portrays terrible crimes, human trafficking and the exploitation of sex workers, with unflinching clarity, while painting a panoramic picture of life in contemporary West Africa—the good, the bad, and the everyday.”
—Lisa Henricksson, Air Mail
“Quartey always brings great skill and a sense of urgency to his stories.”
—CrimeReads
“For armchair travelers and PI fans!”
—Book Riot
“Terrific . . . Smooth prose complements the well-wrought plot. This distinctive detective series deserves a long run.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Library Journal
06/21/2024
Ghanaian American author Quartey's fourth "An Emma Djan Investigation" novel (following Last Seen in Lapaz) is an impassioned plea for advocacy in LGBTQIA+ rights, specifically in the current political climate of Ghana. A vocal gay rights advocate is found viciously murdered, which sets off a series of violent hate crimes. Homophobia is rampant, and if a new anti-LGBTQIA+ law passes, things will get worse. The murdered man's father requests the services of the Sowah Private Investigators Agency to find the killer, and Emma is assigned to the case. While conducting interviews with the man's friends and coworkers, Emma finds the violence closer to home than she realizes. The stakes are high on both sides, as an American religious organization works closely with the International Congress of Families to pass the anti-LGBTQIA+ bill and terrorize the community through both the church and medical establishments. Someone has compiled a hit list of the bill's opponents and is cutting their way through it; by going undercover with the ICF, Emma puts herself in the line of fire. VERDICT Quartey's author's note discusses the current anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in Ghana and its effect on him as a queer author. Recommended for readers who enjoy international fiction and detective fiction.—Jen Funk
