Author’s
medical skills give good credibility to fast-paced, intricate and dark whodunnit.
(Review by Caroline Smart)
The setting is the fictional upmarket San
le Mer golfing estate on the KZN north coast, not to be confused with the San
Lameer golfing estate on the KZN south coast!
Like its south coast counterpart, San le Mer
is situated in beautiful surroundings and is the exclusive home of the rich and
famous. However, being rich and famous doesn’t automatically make for
respectable citizens and it is in this hotbed mix of the genteel to the
downright shady, that its most respected resident, Advocate Norman Ware, is
found murdered.
Jackson Ngombo, who worked as a gardener at
San le Mer, was not having a good morning. The previous afternoon, his wife had
discovered him having sex with his girlfriend and had walked out of the house
with their children. The anger and guilt had encouraged him to drink too much that
night so his head was bursting as he arrived at work where he was issued with a
warning for being late. The heat and his agonising thirst led him in search of
water which is how he found Advocate Norman Ware’s mutilated body in the men’s ablution
block.
What follows is a highly intricate web of
convoluted relationships and situations where it seems that a large percentage
of the residents could have been involved in some way with the murder.
The person whose job it is to unravel all
this is Detective De Villiers. It is a daunting task as he probes into the
activities of the witnesses and suspects: a philandering plastic surgeon, a
harvester of body parts, a BEE property tycoon, a serial killer with a penchant
for teenage girls, a recluse with an abnormal fear of snakes, and a cross-dressing
homophobe. A bronze cherub also plays an important role!
One soon realises that Rosamund Kendal must
know what she’s talking about when it comes to medical terms and describing
medical conditions – and so she should. She studied medicine for six years and
then worked as a doctor for another five. Deciding that the creative side of
her brain needed some stimulation, she enrolled for the master’s degree in Creative
Writing at UCT.
Her analytic medical skill can be seen in
her writing which is very specific in her meticulous placing of her characters,
cleverly weaving them all together to make an elaborate and complex whole.
However, the average reader may find it a
bit difficult keeping up with the many people involved in the murder of
Advocate Norman Ware. I would have welcomed a sketch of who lived where on the
estate, the better to follow this involved story.
Rosamund Kendal writes well and her ironic humour
is refreshing and engaging. I look forward to reading more of her work.
The Murder of Norman Ware is published in paperback by
Jacana Media. ISBN 9781431404445 – Caroline Smart
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