A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley

I checked out the audio version of A Carrion Death for one reason - Simon Prebble. I was about to take a car trip and I love listening to his narration. He really excelled on this book. He was required to do a large number of voices and did them superbly.

This is a long book - 14.5 hours - and I didn't finish it on the trip. By the time I listened to the final chapter I'd forgotten some of the details at the beginning. There was one thread involving an orphaned child that I wanted more of. I didn't understand some of the plot twists.

A Carrion Death is the first book in a mystery series. It is set in Botswana, and I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the landscape and the native plants and animals. It was nice to hear the words and names pronounced correctly. (If you read the print book, there is a cast of characters with phonetic pronunciations at the beginning.) The main character, assistant superintendent David "Kubu" Bengu, was well drawn and very interesting. (His nickname means Hippo, and he is a big guy who loves food, nice things, and life.)

I would think fans of The #1 Ladies Detective Agency would also like to meet Kubu. I am definitely going to read additional books in the series. It's up to four. The Galesburg Public Library owns all four titles in print and the first in audio. The books can be found in the Fiction area under the author's last name, Stanley.