Culture Clash: Writing Fiction From Diverse Life Experiences In an era when the American administration is doing its best to seal the country off from foreigners and migrants including refugees, I’ve been reflecting on how exposure to people who look different from you and have different backgrounds can enrich your life. I was brought up in Ghana, which of course was a British colony. I came of age on the campus of the University of Ghana (UG), with its iconic orange-tiled ro

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

Missing Americans The Missing American (Coming Jan 14, 2020) THE MISSING AMERICAN, an Emma Djan Investigation in which Washington DC resident Gordon Tilson travels to Ghana and mysteriously disappears, is a work of fiction. But Americans going missing overseas is a reality played out far too often. So much so that there is a website called The Missing Americans Project. Not that Americans are the only foreign nationals affected. In June 2019, the Ghana Police rescued two abdu

Who Is Gordon Tilson? Gordon Tilson is an important character in the novel The Missing American, which will be released on January 14, 2020. The Missing American (Coming Jan 14, 2020) Gordon Tilson grew up in Washington, DC. In his early 20s he joined the Peace Corps, a government program established through an executive order issued by issued by President John F. Kennedy on March 1, 1961. Its official mission is to provide social and economic development abroad through techn

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

AFRICAN FICTION, WESTERN READERS African fiction, western readers? Why is that a question? The sad irony of African writers in the diaspora is that much of their work may never be read in the countries where the stories are set. That’s because, ultimately, the fiction is geared to a largely western markets. That means African writers must tell a story that the presumably mostly western audience will understand. Africa is rich with custom and tradition, and it varies from coun

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: THE KILLING OF A GHANAIAN JOURNALIST Press freedom is a precious commodity everywhere on earth. On January 16, 2019, two men on a motorbike pulled up beside a young Ghanaian reporter, Ahmed Hussein-Suale, in his car and shot him three times at close range. Ahmed died on the spot. He is the first known journalist in the world to be murdered in 2019. Ahmed Hussein-Suale Ahmed worked diligently with the worldwide-known investigative journalist, Anas Aremeya

In my novel writing, my aim is not only to entertain but also to render as authentic an experience as possible to the reader, especially since I set my detective stories in a part of the world most readers will never venture: Ghana, West Africa. Whether that location is considered “exotic” or just foreign, I try to write about it as it really is. The characters and murders are made up, of course, but even there, some content is based on real events and people. Many of the jaw

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN A WEST AFRICAN COUNTRY The West African country of Ghana continues to show respectable GDP growth rates. West African country of Ghana sits centrally on the Gulf of Guinea (Shutterstock) Yet multiple studies show that Ghana’s income inequality rate continues to accelerate. Talk about the 1% movement–in Ghana, the income gap between rich and poor is so severe it would be more like the zero point something percent. An ordinary citizen

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

At last, today the trailer for DEATH BY HIS GRACE makes its debut. DBHG is the 5th novel in the Inspector Darko Dawson series, and in many ways, it marks a turning point–but no spoilers here! I made the trailer because–well, I just like doing stuff like that, but also I hope it will be entertaining and pique your interest in the novel. After viewing, you can leave comments on Youtube or on https://twitter.com/Kwei_Quartey using hashtag #crime or #bookchat. So without further

For a few years now, Ghana has topped many lists of the most religious countries in the world with 96% of West African nation’s population staking a claim to a major religion. Christianity takes the lion’s share with about 71%, followed by Muslim with 16%. Traditional and other religions make up the rest. Christianity in Ghana includes Protestantism and Catholicism, but more dominant is the charismatic movement, which embraces the Pentecostal principles of spiritual gifts, sp

My first African safari was when I was a kid. I went to one of the national wildlife parks in Kenya with my mother and brother. We saw several warthogs and not much else. I can assure you, you see one warthog, you’ve seen them all. West Africa does not have quite the reputation for its animal parks that East and Southern Africa do, but there’s one in northern Ghana that has a lot to offer, Mole National Park. Established in 1958, Mole is the largest wildlife refuge in Ghana.

Watch this video by Afua Hirsch, formerly of The Guardian, UK. It gives insight into the new Inspector Darko Dawson novel, GOLD OF THE FATHERS. Also, check out my conversation with Ed Lin, my fellow mystery writer at Soho Press. #AquaHirsch #Ghana #GoldofOurFathers

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

Ghana is located on the coast of West Africa. Its southernmost tip, Cape Three Points, is closest to zero than any other world land mass in three aspects: zero latitude (Equator), zero longitude (Greenwich Meridian), and zero sea level. (From gowestafrica.org) In 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country to gain its independence, from Britain. After topsy-turvy years of one ruinous, incompetent military regime after the next, Ghana transitioned to democratic rule in 19

I was in Ghana during August-September of 2013 to research illegal gold mining, which will be the background for the 4th Inspector Darko Dawson novel. See my previous posts for the story of how Chinese miners have engaged in widespread illegal mining in Ghana with destructive consequences to the environment. The mad hunt for gold is a fascinating intersection of human behavior, mineral science, and environment. I was surprised by the number of ways gold is mined. 1. Individua

During August-September 2013, I was in Ghana researching illegal gold mining in that country as I prepare to write the fourth Inspector Darko Dawson novel, Gold of Our Fathers (title only tentative). The current fever over gold in Ghana has been heightened and complicated by the influx of Chinese gold-seekers with no legal standing to conduct mining in Ghana. To put the chaos in context, a brief historical look is in order. It’s not an exhaustive review by any means. History