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Kwei Quartey

Goodreads Author

Born

Accra, Ghana

Website

https://www.kweiquartey.com/

Twitter

Kwei_Quartey

Genre

Fiction, Crime, Mystery

Influences

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Henning Mankell, Colin Dexter, Agatha Christie ...more

Member Since

January 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/quartey

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KWEI QUARTEY
Biography

Kwei Quartey is a crime fiction writer and physician based in Pasadena, California. In 2018, having practiced medicine for more than 15 years while simultaneously working as a writer, Quartey finally retired from medical practice to become a full-time novelist. Prior to that, though, he had balanced the two professions by dedicating the early morning hours to writing before beginning each day in his clinic.

Quartey was born in Ghana, West Africa, to a Ghanaian father and Black American mother, both of whom were lecturers at the University of Ghana. Quartey describes how his family’s home was full of hundreds of books, both fiction and nonfiction, which inspired him to write novellas as early as the age of eight or nin KWEI QUARTEY
Biography

Kwei Quartey is a crime fiction writer and physician based in Pasadena, California. In 2018, having practiced medicine for more than 15 years while simultaneously working as a writer, Quartey finally retired from medical practice to become a full-time novelist. Prior to that, though, he had balanced the two professions by dedicating the early morning hours to writing before beginning each day in his clinic.

Quartey was born in Ghana, West Africa, to a Ghanaian father and Black American mother, both of whom were lecturers at the University of Ghana. Quartey describes how his family’s home was full of hundreds of books, both fiction and nonfiction, which inspired him to write novellas as early as the age of eight or nine. By then, Quartey was certain he wanted to be an author.

But his interests shifted by the time he was a teenager, when he decided he wanted to be a doctor. Quartey began on a science-to-medicine track in secondary school. After the death of his father, Quartey’s mother returned to the United States. By then, Quartey had already begun medical school in Ghana. Transferring to a medical school in the United States wasn’t easy, but he successfully gained admission to Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC.

After graduation from his residency training in Internal Medicine, Kwei Quartey returned to his love of writing. He went to a UCLA extension course in creative writing, and wrote two novels while in a writing group that met every Wednesday evening. But it would be a few years yet before Quartey would create the Inspector Darko Dawson series.

As a crime fiction writer, Kwei made the Los Angeles Times Bestseller List in 2009. The following year, the GOG National Book Club voted him Best Male Author. The five Inspector Darko Dawson novels, set in Ghana, are WIFE OF THE GODS, CHILDREN OF THE STREET, MURDER AT CAPE THREE POINTS, GOLD OF OUR FATHERS, and DEATH BY HIS GRACE.

Two novels, KAMILA and DEATH AT THE VOYAGER HOTEL (e-book) are non-Darko books.

In January 2020, Quartey’s new detective series launched to critical acclaim with THE MISSING AMERICAN, the debut of the Emma Djan Investigations and the introduction of the first West African female private eye in fiction. The second in the series, SLEEP WELL, MY LADY, was released January 12, 2021, immediately garnering attention for its unusual style of time shifts in relation to the crime.

THE MISSING AMERICAN was nominated for the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel, and won the 2021 Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel.

LAST SEEN IN LAPAZ, the third Emma Djan novel, was released February 2023, and the fourth, THE WHITEWASHED TOMBS, is expected 2024. ...more

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Combine Editions
Kwei Quartey’s books

Average rating: 3.81 · 12,601 ratings · 2,176 reviews · 17 distinct works • Similar authors

	Wife of the Gods (Darko Dawson #1) 3.78 avg rating — 3,892 ratings — published 2009 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Missing American (Emma Djan Investigation #1) 3.71 avg rating — 2,728 ratings — published 2020 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Children of the Street (Darko Dawson #2) 4.02 avg rating — 1,084 ratings — published 2011 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sleep Well, My Lady (Emma Djan Investigation #2) 3.81 avg rating — 1,131 ratings — published 2021 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Murder at Cape Three Points (Darko Dawson #3) 3.78 avg rating — 1,084 ratings — published 2014 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Last Seen in Lapaz (Emma Djan Investigation #3) 4.07 avg rating — 874 ratings — published 2023 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gold of Our Fathers (Darko Dawson #4) 3.87 avg rating — 599 ratings — published 2016 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death by His Grace (Darko Dawson #5) 3.71 avg rating — 583 ratings — published 2017 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Whitewashed Tombs (Emma Djan Investigation #4) 3.93 avg rating — 202 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Death at the Voyager Hotel 3.58 avg rating — 181 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Kwei Quartey's Blog

WRITING AFRICAN FICTION FOR WESTERNERS

Chinua Achebe–trailblazer

Nigerian writer, 70, Chinua Achebe, who gave us a lesson in writing African fiction westerners, is pictured on January 19, 2009 during a welcoming ceremony at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja upon his return to Nigeria for the firrst time in over 10 years. Achebe, whose most famous work is 1958's

Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) at 70 (Photo: ABAYOMI ADESHIDA/AFP via Getty Images)

Written in 1958, Chinua Achebe‘s Things Fall Apart was one of the first African novels to receive international acclaim, and perhaps Achebe was among the first of modern African authors to teach us about writing African fiction for westerners. A complex cultural explor

Series by Kwei Quartey

Darko Dawson (5 books)
by

Kwei Quartey (Goodreads Author)

3.82 avg rating — 7,242 ratings

Emma Djan Investigation (4 books)
by

Kwei Quartey (Goodreads Author)

3.81 avg rating — 4,935 ratings

Kellye Garrett's first novel, Hollywood Homicide, was released in August 2017 and won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Independent Publisher...

Kwei is Currently Reading

Kwei Quartey is currently reading

The Hambledown Dream

by Dean Mayes (Goodreads Author)

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Oct 31, 2011 07:35AM

Kwei Quartey is currently reading

The White Lioness (Kurt Wallander, #3)

by Henning Mankell

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Jul 16, 2011 06:45PM

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Thrift

by Phil Church (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 14, 2012 05:34AM

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Kwei’s Recent Updates

Kwei Quartey made a comment on Lois ’s review of The Whitewashed Tombs (An Emma Djan Investigation Book 4) " Thank you. Adjoa Andoh is amazing! "
Oct 13, 2024 01:25PM · see review
Kwei Quartey and 7 other people liked Lois 's review of The Whitewashed Tombs (An Emma Djan Investigation Book 4): "This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Kwei Quartey, RBmedia/Recorded Books, and NetGalley. This was delightful. This is the 4th book in the series, I haven't read the first 3 books in this series. None the less, I wasn't " Read more of this review »
Oct 13, 2024 01:24PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Whitewashed Tombs by Kwei Quartey. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Whitewashed Tombs by Kwei Quartey <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kwei Quartey made a comment on Sarah-Hope’s review of The Whitewashed Tombs (Emma Djan Investigation #4) " "Fiction is the truth inside the lie." --Stephen King ...more "
Oct 13, 2024 01:23PM · see review

More of Kwei's books…

Quotes by Kwei Quartey (?)

“Now you will know the real
hell. Not the one you go to after you die.
This is the one you go before.”
― Kwei Quartey, Last Seen in Lapaz

tags: deceit, enemies, investigate, kidnap, lies, missing, mystery, sex-trafficking, undercover-pi

15 likes

“She knew all about sexual assault. It enraged her every time the ugly
menace arose in a case, but she tried to keep her emotions out of the
investigations, and never, ever, would she reveal to her coworkers
what had happened to her not so long ago.”
― Kwei Quartey, Last Seen in Lapaz

tags: crime, danger, drama, fantasy, fast-paced, murder, noir-thriller, suspense, thriller

9 likes

“First, she had been unconsciously absorbing this virginity rule
without ever questioning it. Second . . . it struck her that virginity
was a male fetish wrapped tightly around another male fetish called
“purity.” Emma was certain that whoever originated the concept of virginity
was a man.”
― Kwei Quartey, Last Seen in Lapaz

tags: crime, detective, fantasy, fiction, horror, international, intrigue, murder, mystery, tense

8 likes

See all Kwei Quartey's quotes »

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Kwei’s Quotes

“Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains. You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

24 likes

“History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”
― Mark Twain

tags: history

2252 likes

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time

tags: deadlines, humor, humour, work, writing

32131 likes