African Mysteries

“Informal recycling” is a common profession in South Africa (and many other places). On garbage-collection days, the informal recyclers go from bin to bin searching for anything they can use or resell. In The Ring, one of these recyclers makes a horrifying discovery in a rich, Johannesburg woman’s bin.

The Otter Trail is a wonderful five-day hike along South Africa’s south coast. In Three on a Trail, two girls start the trail but only one comes out. And that one can’t remember what happened. The missing girl’s brother decides to find out, but gets much more than he bargained for.

The final story in this short collection is The Last Case of Inspector Fourie. Angry about being overlooked for promotion and sour about the lack of success with prosecutions in South Africa, an embittered policeman investigates a murder and the theft of diamonds from a De Beers facility. The puzzle is how did the diamonds leave the building through all the automated security, and what happened to them after that?