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Emma Djan Investigations #4
by Kwei Quartey
Author Kwei Quartey tackles a real-life—and deeply personal—issue as an anti-gay bill threatens to tear Ghana apart.
Marcelo Tetteh, a twenty-seven-year-old LGBTQ+ activist, is butchered one night after being lured on a dating app to a deserted building site. With rampant homophobia in Ghana, Marcelo's wealthy father doesn't trust the Ghana Police Service to find the killer, so he goes to the Sowah Private Investigators Agency for help, partly because he still feels guilty for disowning his son when he came out.
PI Emma Djan is assigned the case but quickly learns of a complication that prevents her from teaming up as usual with Jojo, her trusted colleague. Emma is the only one at work who knows Jojo is gay, and now he reveals something else: for some time, Jojo was dating Marcelo, the victim.
Working with Manu, whom she's never gotten along with, Emma goes undercover in the International Congress of Families, a powerful organization seeking to criminalize homosexuality in African countries. As Emma infiltrates the ICF, she uncovers a web of deceit and hypocrisy and discovers that the mastermind behind the murders is someone much closer than she ever imagined. Emma must race against time to unmask the killer, protect the vulnerable LGBTQ+ community, and bring justice to the victims, all while navigating the dangerous waters of politics, power, and personal secrets.
"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)
"Murder is only the tip of a ferociously toxic iceberg." —Kirkus Reviews
"The courageous and compelling narrative, elevated by Emma's outstanding wit, brings the Ghanaian characters and settings to life and gives voice to the persecuted LGBTQ+ population." —Booklist
"An impassioned plea for advocacy in LGBTQIA+ rights, specifically in the current political climate of Ghana." —Library Journal
"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
This information about The Whitewashed Tombs was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Steve Monez
Kwei Quartey was raised in Ghana by an African American mother and a Ghanaian father, both of whom were university lecturers. Dr. Quartey practices medicine in Southern California, rising early in the morning to write before going to work.
Author Interview
Link to Kwei Quartey's Website
Name Pronunciation
Kwei Quartey: kway quart-ay
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