Eyewitnesses to the bombing are few, but the wife of a judge, Naomi Karibi, who lives across the street had been home at the time. Mrs. Karibi, an observant individual befitting her status as wife of a judge, had seen a big heavy set man in an old white Peugeot 305 driving away from her neighbor’s home shortly after the explosion.  She had noticed the car a few days earlier in the neighborhood and since this was a strange vehicle it had stuck in her mind. When she saw the man leaving the scene she wrote down the number on the car’s license plate.

As important as Mrs. Karibi’s information was to Peterside, he was sorry her help had been noticed by the media. Not long after her face appears on national television, she is murdered. Now Peterside is dealing with not only political rivalries but homicides as well.

This short first effort by Adimchima Ibe gives a glimpse at a country of which most mystery buffs are unfamiliar. It is obvious from the author’s description of his homeland, that there is no shortage of corruption in politics, nor links of said corruption to the police. The tale itself is lacking in suspense as the reader is privy to most of the information and most, but not all, of the evil  doers are identified  early on in the story.

It is difficult to tell from the author’s narrative whether some of Detective Peterside’s  unorthodox methods of investigation are typical of police procedure in Nigeria. In one scene, Peterside uses a credit card to gain entry to an individual’s residence, while the individual is at home. This type of behavior would not be condoned in most countries in the world. The story is told in the first person with Peterside as narrator. The detective mentions that his forensics man is not interested in minor details, citing that the man is just interested in computers and other electronic bits of equipment. Is not the information that is fed into said computers gathered by meticulously combing the crime scene? In addition, when Peterside is asking a witness about a possible suspect he makes a point of suggesting facial features, body size and body build. I have read elsewhere that this is not done because it is providing suggestions for a witness who will then agree with the suggestions.

There are interesting bits of information about Nigerian foods and customs scattered through the text. Bits about a local, exotic to most Americans, were a plus for this reviewer though I wish the author had made more of a distinction between what Detective Peterside did as an individual versus what is normal police procedure in Nigeria. Was Peterside  being a renegade cop when he broke into someone’s home or do the police do this routinely in Nigeria?

Another minor criticism I had with the tale was the names of the characters. I applaud the author’s use of Nigerian names but there were more than a few characters whose surnames began with an A and for a foreigner reading the text it was difficult to keep them straight. If each of these characters had wildly different personalities they might have been more memorable.

There are several flaws in this first novel, but the setting of the book is unique. Further books that exploit the Nigerian way of doing things and show how Nigerian go about their daily lives may make for an entertaining series.

--Andy Plonka