Compelling story about an artist who turns
amateur detective to save her friend from what she believes is an untrue
accusation of murder. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Margaret von Klemperer is a well-known
figure in Pietermaritzburg circles. She was arts editor of the Witness
newspaper for 16 years until she retired from this position and became the newspaper’s
books editor. Born in Britain, she has lived in Pietermaritzburg with her respected
attorney husband, Julian, for more than 40 years. They have two adult children
and two dogs.
Drawing on her experiences of motherhood, her
association with the legal world and her knowledge of the visual arts, she
decided to set about writing a novel. Just
a Dead Man is the compelling story about Laura Marsh, a divorced single
mother challenged with the process of bringing up two teenage sons. Von
Klemperer is a master of irony and one of the most amusing sections of the book
is when Laura loses her patience and lets fly at her ex-husband’s new wife (Mrs
Tits, as one of her sons call her) over the telephone!
Laura is an artist whose normally
unstressed world gets turned upside down when her friend and fellow artist, Daniel
Moyo, pops in for a visit. During the afternoon, he offers to take her ancient
Labrador, Grumpy, for a walk up to the nearby plantation.
He returns in a panic, having discovered a
dead body where the path leads off into the wooded area. A Zimbabwean refugee,
he carries certain baggage which makes him reluctant to involve the police.
However, Laura insists and what follows is a compelling tale that starts with
the discovery of the identity of the body aided by a photograph the dead man
was carrying that carried the simple caption “SS Mendi”.
This is followed by the police’s
investigation into a possible association with Daniel who was planning to
produce an exhibition based on this maritime disaster in 1917 where over 600
black troops perished. However, this process leads to a more sinister situation
which involves a mining project on the Wild Coast and implicates some highly
powerful and dangerous people.
Moving through numerous court appearances,
jail visits and personal trauma - not to mention brushes with xenophobia
and racism, Laura continues her persistent battle to
prove that her friend has been unjustly accused of murder. Heading the
investigation team are two detectives – one who is distinctly aggressive and
the other who is … well, a little more understanding.
Von Klemperer is a highly skilled writer who
has the capacity to hit the nail on the head description-wise. This allows the
reader to envisage Laura’s normally-unruffled home environment as well as the
starkness of the jails and impersonal court rooms. The cover says it all – a
brooding black and white image that looks down a long path surrounded by trees,
their shadows hinting that secrets lurk not far off.
Taking
Just a Dead Man as a yardstick, I look forward to more novels from Margaret
von Klemperer. In the meantime, Just a
Dead Man would also make a good movie script!
Just
a Dead Man is published in paperback by Jacana
Media and is available at leading bookstores. ISBN: 978-1-4314-0504-6 or E-book
ISBN: d-PDF ISBN 978-1-4314-0505-3 ePUB ISBN 978-1-4314-0506-0 mobi file ISBN
978-1-4314-0507-7. – Caroline Smart
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