The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu

by Michael Stanley

Book Overview

"The African Columbo. . . . Like the first book to feature Kubu, A Carrion Death, this is a smart, satisfyingly complex mystery. [Grade] A." -- Entertainment Weekly

The second book in the Detective Kubu series--penned by a pair of Crime Writers' Association Award-winning South African authors writing under the name Michael Stanley--The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu treats readers to a gripping and atmospheric story...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061252506
• ISBN13: 9780061252501
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The importance of lateral thinking

Detective "Kubu" Bengu, assistant Superintendent in the Botswana CID, is called to a nasty murder scene in the country's most northern part: two men dead and one has disappeared. One of those killed, popular teacher Goodluck Tinubu, appears to have been the victim of a revenge killing. Kubu (meaning hippo in Setswana) and his local CID colleague, Detective Sergeant Joseph "Tatwa" (giraffe) Mooka, have a major puzzle on their hands. This second "Kubu" crime investigation novel by South African writing team Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip is even richer and more intricate than the well-received first, A Carrion Death: Introducing Detective Kubu. Set against the beautiful landscapes of normally peaceful Botswana, hefty problems bubble under the surface, however: cross-border drug trade, regional political tensions with Zimbabwe, and long lingering violent conflicts from across the borders. Central to the investigation is the remote Jackalberry tourist camp, run by two white ex-Rhodesians. Located on a peninsula, close to the borders with Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, it is reachable only by either boat or by wading through the swamps, inhabited by hippos and crocs. It seems to attract a motley group of staff and visitors. Most appear to have something to hide from the detectives. Tinubu, for example, it turns out, was already killed once before: in the Rhodesian civil war some thirty years earlier. When searching for the disappeared man, the trace leads to Zimbabwe also. Kubu, usually the pondering meticulous gentle giant who never rushes and hardly ever misses out on a good meal, is pressured hard by his superiors for quick results. When his own family is threatened, he loses his cool and shows his hippo strength, yet maintains his lateral thinking skills: his sometimes unusual hunches and thorough analyses comfortably convince the reader and eventually also director Jacob Mabaku. Time becomes of the essence, and bold steps are required to cut through to the core of the crimes. While fans of McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Box Set: "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" "Tears of the Giraffe" "Morality for Beautiful Girls" will easily see parallels in the description of the natural environment and some Batswana character traits, the pace of events here moves much faster and the story threads are complex and multi-track. The various settings are effectively used for the story's dramatic flow. The authors have also expanded on describing personal circumstances and the wider social settings, thus creating a rounder portrait of the characters' life in Botswana. The different action strands come convincingly together. Above all, though, Detective Kubu is captivating and a highly engaging character to observe in action. [Friederike Knabe]

I hope this series is in for a good long run!

Not too long ago, I read a book called A Carrion Death and fell in love with a country and a character. The country is Botswana. The character is a policeman with the unlikely nickname of Kubu ("hippopotamus"). When I discovered that the second book in this mystery series was about to be published, I succumbed to temptation and pre-ordered it. I'm glad I did. The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu fulfills the promise contained in the first book. This time around, two men are found murdered in a bush camp on the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana. Detective David "Kubu" Bengu is assigned to the case. One victim is a tourist from South Africa. The other is Goodluck Tinubu, a Zimbabwean who had been teaching in Botswana for several years. A third person, thought to be a dissident wanted in Zimbabwe, has disappeared. The local police seem unable or unwilling to provide much help, so Detective Kubu must rely on his own instincts to track down the killers. Almost from the beginning he realizes that everyone involved has something to hide and that unraveling each clue will take all his skill. The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu delves a bit more into the political side of life in Botswana: life in remote villages far off the grid, how the police of Botswana and South Africa try to work together, and how tense life can be when a border is shared with a country like Zimbabwe. The setting of the Okavango Delta is wonderful, especially for someone like me who's grown up watching dozens of National Geographic specials. Political-- and wild-- animals aside, the true strengths of this book can be found in the labyrinthine plot where no one is who he seems to be and no one's motivations are clear-- and in the excellent characterizations. In fact this is one of the few series where I enjoy the main character's home life and family as much as I do the mystery. Kubu, his co-workers and his extended family are delineated with such care, respect and gentle humor that I wouldn't be at all surprised to discover that each one of them is a real person. Even if they are not, they became real in my mind as the pages turned. Reading these books is to learn of traditional family life in Botswana, and to learn that co-workers around the world love to joke with each other: "Kubu, I've got to go. See if you can arrange things for the rest of the day so that you don't drown any of my detectives, don't start a war with Namibia, and don't release a horde of murderers into the community. Do you think you can handle that?" In only the second book of what I hope is a very long series, I savored a complex plot, a setting that can literally sink its teeth into a reader, and cast of characters that live and breathe on the page. All of this is written by two talented men who aren't afraid to shake things up and let me know that I should not take Detective Kubu or any of the others for granted. Life is short. Life is uncertain. Bad things can happen to good people. I am most d

One of the Best Mystery Novels of the Year

The Detective Kubu mysteries have become an addiction for me, even though the series is still in its infancy. If A CARRION DEATH, the first book, whetted the appetite for a great mystery of at least equal quality, then THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU meets and surpasses it. Detective Kubu is David Bengu; "Kubu" is also a nickname in Bengu's home nation of Botswana for a hippopotamus, which Bengu resembles physically and emotionally. Michael Stanley, the creator of this series, is the collective name for the writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Their collaboration is a seamless one; while the setting, Southern Africa, is exotic, within the space of a few pages, somehow team Stanley makes it seem a familiar, almost comfortable place, like a country home that is too far away to visit as often as one might like. Maybe that analogy is inaccurate. THE SECOND DEATH, for example, describes a creature known as a ladder spider that is indigenous to northern Botswana; I wouldn't want to be within three continents of such a thing. On the whole, however, the settings and the characters who populate these novels are first rate. There is much to love here, particularly about Detective Kubu himself. As with his namesake, he is a huge man of immense appetite, whose latest diet forces him to regretfully decline a third helping of dessert. He is also an excellent police detective, good at taking nagging stray threads and pulling at some, following others, and figuring out what is going on. Or, as Kubu puts it, holding up the jigsaw puzzle pieces and turning them this way and that until he can put them into the big picture. Kind and attentive to his wife, gracious and respectful to his parents, Kubu is the type of individual who you would not only want as a friend, but also as a relative. He has a hard-to-please but very savvy boss who knows when to reign him in and when to give him his lead, and just enough frustrations to keep things interesting at all times. I could prattle on. The bottom line, however, is that THE SECOND DEATH, like its predecessor, is exceptionally well written. It is so much so in fact that halfway through it I found I was enjoying the narrative even more than the mystery it was presenting. To put it another way, and to paraphrase a favorite limerick, I cared more about the book's voice than I did about who had done what, and to whom. Which brings us to the plot. While Goodluck Tinubu is the name that makes it into the title of this wonderful work, he is but one of two bodies discovered viciously murdered at a bush camp in Northern Botswana. Kubu is called in to wrap up this nasty turn of events, and quickly, given that a conference of African leaders is about to get underway in Botswana and the local authorities don't want the place to appear to be a caldron of violence. The case looks open and shut, at least initially. Another guest of the camp departed ahead of schedule, after the murders took place but before the vict

Kubu does it again...

Michael and Stanley have once again caused me to stay up 'til past midnight to finish their book! Like the operas that Kubu so loves, "Second Death" has a number of movements...each one unique...each one with their own sound. Scenes move from the present day in northern Botswana to the nasty past of then-Rhodesia. Having lived in South Africa in '79, the feel of the book was spot-on. One thing I really liked was seeing more of Kubu and Joy (Kubu's wife). In many mysteries the characters are just that: characters. In "Second Death" we have people, not characters. By the end of the story you've really invested yourself in Kubu and his family. I can't wait for number 3 in the series. By the way... you can see Michael and Stanly reading on YouTube. Just search for "tinubu".

excellent Botswana police procedural

Botswana Assistant Superintendent David "Kubu" Bengu investigates the murders of two men at the remote Jackalberry bush camp. Both Sipho Langa a black South African tourist and the Goodluck Tinubu were guests. The problem with the identification of the latter based on his fingerprints is that Goodluck died almost three decades ago during the Rhodesian civil war. The third Zimbabwean Ishmael Zondo has vanished with the cops assuming he is the killer on the run tying him to drug trafficking though camp manger Dupie says he took him to the airport. Bengu thinks otherwise as he feels Goodluck is the key to solving the homicides. So he is surprised that many people including his own father thought highly of Goodluck as a teacher. The case is going nowhere for him with the pressure upstairs to find the missing third guest and at home when his wife Joy is attacked. The second Kubu Botswana police procedural (see A CARRION DEATH) is a terrific whodunit that focuses on the investigation, but also showcases the author team's love of the landlocked South African country. In fact the leisure stroll through the countryside while making inquiries provides a deep look at this nation, but does take time from solving the case. Fans, especially those of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith will enjoy this engaging "geographical" murder mystery as Michael Stanley provides a deep look into this democracy. Harriet Klausner