"A Beautiful Place to Die: A Novel","Malla Nunn"
"This is an excellent, Edgar Award nominated mystery. I felt it was well written, with an excellent sense of place and characters who seemed very real. An English speaking policeman from Johannesburg is sent to a remote settlement near the Mozambique border to investigate the murder of an Afrikaner (Boer) police chief.Helping him is a Black policeman who is not permitted to do much and an teen aged policeman.
The Afrikaners seem to be the elite of the settlement, and feel superior to the English, the Coloured population (people of mixed race), and the Blacks. The time is 1952 and laws of separation have just been enacted, and people who cross these lines do so at their own peril. Also in the village is an old German Jew who is shunned by most. The Boers are described as religious in the extreme, sanctimonious, believing it is their God giving
right to rule and spiritual destiny.
This is how the murdered police chief presented himself, but the policeman soon learns he had a secret dark side. He has grown sons who want to avenge his murder and don't like the English policeman interfering. To complicate matters a couple of very brutal, vicious Security men arrive planning to place the blame on a Black Communist student, and try to get the English policeman off the case, as he believes the murder was based on personal rather than political motives. I am hoping there is a sequel. Enjoyed the book very much!"