Sleep Well, My Lady Sleep Well, My Lady (January 2021) In Sleep Well, My Lady, Emma Djan, Private Investigator, returns for another round on January 12, 2021. Sleep Well, My Lady (SWML). No one can predict exactly what the Covid world will be like by then, but I feel confident that in any case, we will still have books, thank goodness. This time, Emma and the investigation team tackle a case that has run into a dead end. Almost a year ago, fashion icon Lady Araba was found de

My Top Ten Ghana Scenes I have thousands of photos from Ghana, many of them forming backdrops in my novels. Here are some top ten favorites in no particular order. Choose your top three! 10. Dizzying cliffs at Cape Three Points (Photo: Kwei Quartey) Much of the Western Region coast is unspoiled, but developers have their eye on  some of this prime real estate. Imagine having a home in this setting–easily a million dollars and up. 9. Lush green cocoa forest, Ashanti Region (Ph

Letter from Ghana I’ve been in Ghana now for just under a month combining books/family/leisure, although I have to say I’ve had little of the latter. A plan to travel to a well-known monkey sanctuary in the Volta Region this weekend got nixed by some business that came up. Some of the locales and experienced echo events in my upcoming novel THE MISSING AMERICAN (TMA) for example, the first-time arrival of one of the main characters into the new Terminal 3 at the Kotoka Intern

The Missing American When American Gordon Tilson joined the Peace Corps in the 1980s, he went to the country of Ghana for his service. There, he met and fell in love with Regina, a Ghanaian woman who became his wife. Regina gave birth to their only child, Derek, after the couple returned together to Washington, DC. Gordon and Regina truly loved each other. Regina established herself within a circle of influential Ghanaians in the DC area, particularly the diplomatic set. Gord

AFRICA’S GREATEST UNSOLVED MURDERS The US has its share of cold cases, unsolved murders, and murder mysteries that have never been cracked, but there’s murder in Africa too. In the last blog, we saw a case from Kenya, East Africa, and before that, South Africa. Now we move to Ghana, West Africa, where the mystery of “The Accra Strangler” went unsolved for years. It might well have permanently become one of Africa’s greatest unsolved murders were it not for a combination of fo

On Tuesday August 29, 2017, my fifth Detective Chief Inspector Darko Dawson novel will go on sale. It’s called DEATH BY HIS GRACE, and like the other books in the detective series, it’s set in Ghana, my birthplace. If the fourth novel, GOLD OF OUR FATHERS, took Darko far from home, this one comes too close. Darko’s wife, Christine, is Katherine’s first cousin. So, as Darko wrestles with the case, family members inject their emotions and opinions into the investigation, includ

Every so often, one comes across an extraordinary endeavor that must be talked about and given prominence. This one appears in my fiction, and now I want to talk about it in real life. Mmofra Place is a rare, two-acre sanctuary in Accra, Ghana’s capital. “Mmofra” means “The Children” in Akan, the dominant indigenous language in the country. Renowned Ghanaian writer, educator and child advocate, Efua T. Sutherland, founded the Mmofra Foundation decades ago. It’s an NGO dedicat

I wrote about the on-off cycle of electricity in Ghana in my last post. After arriving in Ghana on Jan 6, the lights in my area stayed on continuously and mercifully for a full 5 or 6 days. Then the first blackout since I had arrived went into effect, which meant bringing the monster generator into service. This beast can power all lights and appliances, including the air conditioners (Photo: Kwei Quartey) MaxMart: lit up like a Christmas tree (Photo: Kwei Quartey) Generators

The term “Dark Continent” is an antiquated (and to many, offensive) euphemism for Africa that once got veteran NPR broadcaster Jean Cochran into trouble when she used it on air. Now I’m taking the liberty of coining the phrase “dark country” to refer to Ghana, with its now legendary rolling blackouts, or “load shedding,” as it’s often called. In the “dark country,”, you need a high-powered generator to keep the lights on Popularly known as “dumsor,” from the Twi, meaning “off