Ebersohn, Wessel

New York. 1980. Vintage Books. Paperback Reprint. Very Good in Wrappers. 0394745442. South African Mystery. 271 pages. paperback. keywords: Mystery South Africa Literature. FROM THE PUBLISHER - This is a most promising first detective novel from South Africa, a debut which we feel sure will attract attention and admiration. Its story starts when a Jewish prison psychiatrist is brought in to examine the black man he is told has just poisoned a local bigwig. But the terrified, quivering schizophrenic who is huddling in the prison cell is clearly not capable of poisoning anyone. Who then is the murderer, and how can he be uncovered? This startling, tough new novel brings us into the heart of darkest South Africa, exposing a landscape very similar to the American South of fifty years ago. Indeed, our psychiatrist hero soon stumbles across a local gang resembling the KKK and discovers that the victim may well have been its leader. As with all good detective stories, the setting is brilliantly established. Ebersohn, though this is his first novel, writes extremely well and knows the intricacies of South African life intimately. His book shows us the worlds of both blacks and whites. and convincingly leads us into the terror of their clashes. inventory #28713 ISBN: 0394745442.