IF THE DEAD COULD TALK

Author: Juliette Mnqeta

Publisher: Kwela

Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger

I so enjoy reading young new writers, testing the waters in the new South Africa with stories that reflect their truth. This is one such writer; a fresh new voice on the crime fiction scene. ‘This ‘Xhosa chick from the Miya clan’, Juliette Mnqeta, with her debut novel ‘If the Dead Could Talk’, is a promising writer, assured, creating a very believable story, characters and outcomes. Oh my, if the dead could talk what stories they would tell and, while we know that forensic evidence reveals so much, it’s the life that holds the clues. Digging deep; the astuteness of the investigating team; unspoken clues left by the victim; the past throwing up the trail. So many threads to link together and so many ways to miss something. Mnqeta draws you in, spinning you into a vortex of jealousies, corruption, power – and a little love for good measure. Her light touch is bright and spunky!

It’s not a heavy crime mystery book, nor is it cosy crime, falling into the easy to read, cleverly constructed genre; a real slice of South Africa.

Azania Sethosa has an absent father, she has never met him, he never made contact with her but provided for her and her mom Portia over the years. She knows he is Joseph ‘Lefty’ Mafu, politician and policeman but for the psychology student the contradictions were a mystery – even more so when his lawyer calls to tell her she is Lefty’s sole heir. A suspected suicide at his expensive home in Knysna sends Azania off to the pretty resort town to find some answers, and some closure. Thrown together with investigating officer detective Florian Welter, they make a good if unlikely team to begin with. Florian is determined to redeem himself from past mistakes, sees the inconsistencies in the cause of death. Azania wants the truth and her inquisitive mind sometimes grasps things faster than Florian’s. Together they dig into a past that is full of political intrigue, conspiracies and corruption spanning 30 years when Lefty was part of the 1990s first intake to the South African Bureau of Intelligence (SABI).  A mix of SA culture, only four of the six now left. As SABI member Jabulile Poni’s accidental death in the 90s surfaces, the strings of the past pull tighter; the cracks revealing dirt and coverups. The masks of innocence slip, the clues pile up, secrets uncovered and be careful who you trust.

Mnqeta skillfully drops red herrings, builds tension, has you guessing, she keeps up a good pace and drops Xhosa words naturally into the dialogue, part of the authenticity of the story.  The old Gogo – a vital link. The skellum ‘brother’. An attraction growing between the two young people speaks to the Born Free generation. The avuncular Neelam, Florian’s boss, looks out for him; and then there are the ‘invisible’ ones amongst us… all thought through carefully showing Mnqeta’s powers of observation. It’s a satisfying read, mostly unpredictable with a resonating storyline. The protagonists are very likeable -perhaps we have a new team of fictional South African investigators on the horizon? I hope so.