Sibanda and the rainbird - C. M Elliott

'Fans of Alexander McCall Smith will love Scotty Elliott's Sibanda series. . . Sunday Times

When a gruesomely vulture-mutilated corpse is found in the Park near Thunduluka Lodge, DI Jabulani Sibanda - a hard-boiled, bush-loving, instinctive crime fighter - is on the case.

With Sibanda are his sidekicks: Sergeant Ncube, an overweight, digestively challenged, severally married angler and mechanical genius, and Miss Daisy, an ancient, truculent and eccentric Land Rover that is the bane of Sibanda's life and the love of Ncube's.

Sibanda and Ncube pursue the investigation in the African bush following the mysterious clues they found at the crime scene: tyre tracks, a knife inscribed with the letter 'B', and a sliver of blue metallic car paint...

Praise for Sibanda and the Rainbird:

'Fans of Alexander McCall Smith will love Scotty Elliott's Sibanda series . . . They have the same dry humour and warmth as the No1 Ladies' Detective Agency stories, the same palpable affection for the people and the landscape, and detectives who solve crimes more by hunch and legwork than with forensics and technology' Sunday Times (SA)

'Her plot keeps readers guessing right to the end, when the monster meets a truly satisfying fate . . . Elliott's skill as a writer lies in her ability to create and flesh out characters that are so lifelike, they thrum in your head for days after finishing her books' Business Live

'Will have you hooked' The Gremlin

C.M. Elliott was born in England. At 27, she moved to Zimbabwe in the middle of the civil war and, with her game ranger husband, pioneered a tourism business in the newly independent country, based in and around Hwange National Park. Elliott began writing seriously about three years ago - short stories to begin with and then moving on to what would eventually become Sibanda and the Rainbird. She now writes fulltime.

If you've not yet dipped into the Sibanda series, you have an experience to kill for - as long as Sibanda is not around.
BusinessDay