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The list of Edgar Nominees for 2013 at http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html(link is external) includes a few pleasant surprises, not the least of which is the nomination of Malla Nunn's book BLESSED ARE THE DEAD (or SILENT VALLEY as we know it as) in the BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL CATEGORY. I've also only read one of the BEST FACT CRIME entries Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French which is actually a bit of a surprise as I've normally not read any of them!.

Congrats to all the nominees - there's a few authors there that I'm really looking forward to catching up on.

BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
Author
ISBN
9781742610887
Year of Publication
BLURB

A remote town. A girl of rare and exquisite beauty. A murder that silences a whole community.

The body of a seventeen-year-old girl has been found covered in wildflowers on a hillside in the Drakensberg Mountains, near Durban. She is the daughter of a Zulu chief, destined to fetch a high bride price. Was Amahle as innocent as her family claims, or is her murder a sign that she lived a secret life?

Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper is sent to investigate. He must enter the guarded worlds of a traditional Zulu clan and a white farming community to gather up the clues Amahle left behind and bring her murderer to justice. But the silence in the valley is deafening, and it seems that everyone – from the uncooperative local police officer, to the white farm boy who seems obsessed with the dead girl – has something to hide.

With no cause of death and no motive, Cooper's investigation is blocked at each turn. Can he tough it out, or will the small-town politics that stir up his feelings about the past be more than he can bear?

In this page-turning tale of murder and mystery, Nunn entangles us in a rich and complex web of witchcraft, tribalism, taboo relationships... and plain old-fashioned greed.

BOOK INFORMATION
Author
ISBN
9780143567523
Year of Publication
BLURB

January 1937: Peking is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, lavish cocktail bars and opium dens, warlords and corruption, rumours and superstition - and the clock is ticking down on all of it.

In the exclusive Legation Quarter, the foreigners are jumpy. Japanese troops are poised to attack, and word has it the Chinese government is about to cut a deal with Tokyo, leaving Peking to its fate. Fear reigns inside the ancient city walls, on one of which, not far from the nefarious Badlands, is a massive watchtower. Locals believe it to be haunted by fox spirits that prey upon innocent mortals.

Then one bitterly cold night, the body of an innocent mortal is dumped there. It belongs to the daughter of a former British consul, and when the details of her death become known, people find it hard to credit that any human could treat another in such a fashion.

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Submitted by Karen on Thu, 17/01/2013 - 07:09 pm