🥤How many African crime books have you read?

👋 Hi there! If you’re in Lagos, I hope you don’t live in or around Berger or anywhere along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Why? There was a traffic standstill yesterday, and from what I’m hearing, the traffic is still going. Between road construction and a container falling off the Berger Bridge, some people reportedly slept and woke up in danfos. 😭

But if you’re safe and sound at home, let’s get into this issue.

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Five African crime books for your inner detective

Crime stories often begin with a disappearance, a dead body, or a mystery that refuses to stay buried. What follows is the search for answers and the discovery that there is usually much more hiding underneath.

This week’s recommendations bring you five African crime books filled with missing people, dangerous secrets, messy investigations, and mysteries waiting to be uncovered.

The Lagos Wife (The Nigerwives) - Vanessa Walters

Nicole Nwuwari seems to have the life everyone wants: she is a white woman living a privileged life in Lagos, married into a wealthy Nigerian family and moving among the city’s enviable Nigerwives socialites.

She is, in every way, the poster wife, until a boat trip changes everything. Nicole disappears without a trace, leaving her aunt with more questions than answers. Armed with nothing but a plane ticket, her aunt Claudine travels to Nigeria to find her and begins uncovering secrets that make Nicole’s seemingly perfect life look very different.

Behind the glamour, privilege, and the society’s ideas of what the “perfect” woman should look like lies a much more complicated story. The book is available on Amazon.

 Gaslight - Femi Kayode

A clinical psychologist writing crime fiction is an interesting combination, so it’s no surprise that Femi Kayode brings his field into the messy world of investigative psychologist Detective Taiwo.

In Gaslight, Taiwo is pulled into the glamorous but secretive world of a Lagos megachurch. Not one for religious devotion, he takes on the case after his sister, a member of the church, begs him to help. The church’s charismatic bishop, Jeremiah Dawodu, has been arrested at his own pulpit for murdering his wife, Sade, but there’s no body.

As church elders scramble to protect their multimillion-naira empire, Taiwo uncovers a web of corruption, political power, and dangerous secrets. Soon, the threats begin to close in on his own family. Is the megachurch's First Lady dead, hiding, or is someone playing a much more dangerous game? Copies are available on Rovingheights, Bookpeddler, or AbeBooks.

The Carnivorous City - Toni Kan

How many cryptic messages have you received? Probably none. But for Abel, a teacher in Asaba, one mysterious message sends him into Lagos on a desperate search for his missing, wealthy brother, Soni.

With the holidays giving him time to leave work and his quiet life behind, Abel begins searching for a brother whose wealth has dragged him into murky waters and dirty deals. 

As Abel searches for Soni, he must also figure out how to survive a power-hungry world without losing the values that define him. Can Abel find his brother and still remain himself? Find out in a copy you can get from Cassava Republic Press or Amazon.

Easy Motion Tourist - Leye Adenle 

Leye Adenle’s debut novel Easy Motion Tourist follows Amaka, an independent self-appointed vigilante for vulnerable sex workers who saves a British journalist, Guy Collins.

Collins came to Nigeria to cover an election from the hands of the police. He probably didn't expect his first night in the city to end with him stumbling upon a mutilated body outside a nightclub.

The British journalist quickly finds himself in trouble when corrupt police officers try to silence him. After saving him, Amaka briefs him on the city’s dangerous underworld. Now deviated from his original mission, the duo is drawn into a dark, high-stakes investigation to uncover a wealthy human organ harvesting and trafficking ring. Available on Rovingheights and Cassava Republic Press.

Lagos Noir- Different Authors

This week’s top recommendation is Lagos Noir, a 13-story crime anthology edited by acclaimed Nigerian author Chris Abani. The collection brings together some of Nigeria’s most exciting writers to explore the darker, grittier side of Lagos through stories of crime, corruption, greed and survival.

Leye Adenle gives the classic Nigerian email scam a sharp twist in Uncle Sam, while Jude Dibia follows a policeman whose murder investigation exposes the rot within the police force.

In Heaven’s Gate, Chika Unigwe tells the story of a driver whose sudden fortune disappears after extortion, while Nnedi Okorafor’s Showlogo takes us into the city’s criminal underworld.

From police corruption to scams, extortion, and street violence, Lagos Noir peels back the glossy surface of Lagos and shows you the city from some of its darker corners. Available on Cassava Republic Press, Amazon, and Spine & Label.

Nanya Ugochukwu loves reading at Bookaholic

I’m Nanya Ugochukwu, a lively and outgoing person who loves to talk, share knowledge, and learn from others. I’m curious about the human mind, people, and society, and I think that curiosity is one reason I’ve always loved reading. I also enjoy discussions, arguments, and debates, which is part of why I love being in a book club.

Outside reading, I love dancing, movement, and fitness. I’m fascinated by what our bodies can do and the relationship between movement and how we feel about ourselves. I run LOVLI, a movement community where I use dance to help women build confidence, physical strength, flexibility, and feel more at home in their bodies.

What’s the book club reading right now? And be honest, are you actually enjoying it, or are you just trying to finish it before the next meeting?

I’ve enjoyed most of the books we’ve read at Bookaholic, and I’ve also had times when I started late and had to race to finish before the meeting. We’re currently reading Pride and Joy by Louisa Onome, but honestly, I haven’t started it. I’ve been sick and only recently recovered.

I’m still attending the meeting, though. One thing I love about Bookaholic is that you don’t have to read the book to attend. You can learn from others, join the conversation, and have a good time because we always connect the books to real life. Of course, it helps when you’ve actually read the book.

What do you look forward to most at every Bookaholic monthly meeting? 

I look forward to seeing everyone’s interpretation or understanding of the story and what they took away from it. It’s a way of seeing the world through other people’s eyes. No matter how much you learn, you can’t know everything, and we all have blind spots. 

Another thing I really look forward to is sharing my own views. I’m expressive, and I also love sharing knowledge. So as I’m reading, if I get something from the book or learn something from it, I’m usually already sharing how I feel about it in the group. We have an active WhatsApp group, so when meeting rolls around, people are already charged and looking forward to what I have to say or what I want to share. 

You have your Bookaholic picks to read, but what happens when you’re choosing a book purely for yourself? What are you reading at the moment, and what’s keeping you hooked or putting you off?

When I’m reading for myself, it’s usually for entertainment, work, or interest. For entertainment, I’m currently reading The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie. We’re at the climax, where they’re either going to defeat Bethod, the tyrant trying to take over the North, or get crushed.

The odds haven’t been in their favour, and I’ll be really mad if things don’t go well. So, I’ve been reading it very slowly. Whenever something else goes wrong, I close the book and come back when my emotions have stabilised.

For work, I’m reading Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton to improve my design and typography skills. I’m also interested in starting Product Architecture: An Emerging Practice, a Medium blog post, and The Power of Neuroplasticity, though I haven’t started either yet.

What kinds of books tend to make it onto the Bookaholic reading list, and if you had complete control over the next book of the month, what would you pick and why?

Our Books of the Month are always by African authors. Every January, we pick any book by any author, while every other month, Bookaholics nominate a book and everyone votes. The winning book becomes our pick for that month.

If I had complete control over the next Book of the Month, I’d strongly push for The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. I’d also be open to reading non-fiction, although I worry about turnout and whether people would read the book.

Fiction, especially novels, is easier to follow and can explore different aspects of life that resonate with different people. Non-fiction tends to focus on one or a few subjects, so it may not feel as relevant to everyone. I think that’s why fiction keeps winning. There are so many things to explore, making it easier to interest and pull people in.

This week’s gem is Mariama Bâ’s Une Si Longue Lettre (So Long A Letter), one of Africa’s early feminist texts written in 1979. The short book was first written in French before being translated into English, which contributed to its wider reach.

Context: Bâ graduated as a schoolteacher as early as 18. She published her debut book, So Long A Letter, at 50. Bâ died two years later in 1981, just before her second novel, Scarlet Song, was published. 

Origin: So Long A Letter is a novella written as a series of diary/letter entries from the recently widowed Ramatoulaye to her lifelong friend, Aïssatou, who lives in the United States.

Ramatoulaye reflects on the pain of her husband taking a second, much younger wife, and how both women lost their husbands in very different ways. The work was translated into English and awarded the inaugural Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 1980. 

Why Read?

📌Kukogho Iruesiri Samson’s Devil’s Pawn cover reveal is available

The gritty crime thriller is returning to bookstores in 2027 with a new cover. Devil’s Pawn opens with a brutal attack on a woman at Buscan University by a fraternity that thought it had dealt with her. Soon, a series of mysterious deaths puts the school community on edge and triggers a police investigation. Now, what unfolds looks like more than what meets the eye.

📌Olukorede S. Yishau’s Black Market hits shelves September 29 

Yishau Olukorede S. Yishau adds another story to the diaspora shelves with Black Market, out September 29. The novel follows two Nigerian couples living in America as they navigate marriage, trauma, and the consequences of difficult choices. Expect betrayal, secrets, and the messy business of surviving both.

Today’s quote was brought to you by one of our community members, Amonimo Ikeoluwa 💛

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Community Spotlight

Victor Tommy is an independent author who recently published The Ends: The Definitive Guide to Multicultural London English under his imprint, North Circular Press.

The book traces hundreds of MLE words and expressions, including the influence of Nigerian Pidgin and other West African languages, while exploring the bigger story of migration, identity and cultural exchange behind the way London speaks.

PS: As a thank you to The Juice Community, I'm giving a 20% discount to anyone who cops my book directly from my Selar store using EARLYENDS20.

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